Severing Ties
by TheHouseKey
Summary: Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's
1. Attention's Overrated

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 1:** Attention's Overrated

He was where he belonged. That much he was sure of. Peter Parker had never been so content with his life. He had a loving fiancé, a brilliant education in the works, a job he could work on his own hours, and the satisfaction and responsibility of being Spider-Man. Then why was he having second thoughts about everything? Life was just dandy, so why did his brain sound off as though his Spider-Sense was broken? He put his hands on his face to block out the weird signals. Something was going wrong, somewhere, but the feeling was too weak to come from somewhere close; somewhere he could be of help.

Lately he'd been taking care of a 'cat' burglar who liked to go for banks, and other high security places. Jameson had jumped on the occasion to say that Spider-Man and the burglar were working as a team, but Peter disliked the thief, and stopped her numerous times.

Boy, did he notice the thief was female. She had a black number that had white fur along the steep neckline, the white gloves, and boots, and the whole outfit just barely covered her bust and clung to every other inch of her. Her hair was very light blonde and long. It was full and curved only at the bottom. She chose the middle of the night to strike, and she proved that Spider-Man was the only one strong enough to take her. The long night hours were taking a toll on Peter, and he silently prayed that the 'Black Cat,' as she was calling herself, would sleep tonight, as well.

He went to school the next day, and barely heard a word Doctor Connors said. In his daze, he noticed a girl from across the room looking at him. She was in his class, but he never talked to her before.

"Peter, I trust you have the answer?"

He jerked out of his trance-like state. "Sorry?"

"See me after class," Connors requested.

Knowing he was in for a lecture of the worst sort, Peter nodded without saying a word. At the end of class, he waited behind.

"Peter, what's been on your mind?" the doctor asked.

"I don't know. I haven't been concentrating on anything, lately," he confessed.

Connors nodded. "I noticed. Well, it wasn't a major foul-up today, but I—"

"Professor! I don't understand this at all!" said a girl who ran in. Peter noticed that she was not from his class. Her wavy, dark hair was in disarray, her doe-like eyes, panicked.

"Miss Salvani, would you please wait a moment until I finish with another student?"

She stood there, impatiently, it seemed.

"Peter, today wasn't a major foul-up, but I trust you'll remember that paper that's due tomorrow?" Connors repeated.

"Yes, sir," Peter replied.

"You're free to go."

Peter sighed and walked into the hallway. He could hear the girl's frantic rambling. He was looking at the ground, but then the girl from his class approached him. She had startling green eyes, and blonde hair. Her dazzlingly white smile almost blinded Peter. He silently noted the shape her body was in. It was obvious she worked out.

"Hi," she greeted.

"Hello."

"I'm Felicia Hardy. I've seen you time and time, again. I just figured it was time to talk to you," she commented.

"Peter Parker. As good a time as any, I guess," he replied. He swallowed. He was not really comfortable with this girl who looked like she had muscles like Wonder Woman.

"Tell MJ I said hi, will you?" Felicia asked.

"Sure."

"Got to go." In a blur, Felicia Hardy went outside and left.

Then Peter noticed that the girl in the classroom had a tone in her voice that was making it louder, like desperation. "I try so hard, Doctor Connors, but I just don't understand it! I know I'm not stupid but it's been bugging me that I can't get it right—"

"Have you been listening to my lectures?"

"Of course, I have! They just make me more lost!"

"I'll think about something we could work out. I'll tell you my ideas tomorrow. Go on home, now," Connors assured.

Peter turned to start his way back when his Spider-Sense told him to turn around. He did, and caught the girl from falling down the stairs.

"I am so sorry. I'm such a loser. I can't walk right…" she rushed. She looked at him as he helped her stand straight. "I'm Jackie Salvani," she introduced.

"Peter Parker," he replied. They shook hands.

"Nice catch," she commented with a smile.

"Any time. Hey, what did you need help with?" he asked in a friendly tone.

"Oh, um…Biochemistry, you know…Confuses the heck out of me. I'm researching that spider that went missing a few years ago and how it probably relates to Spider-Man. DNA and stuff…" she trailed off, as though she knew her subject were ridiculous.

If only she knew how ridiculous it really was. "You think the two are connected?" Peter inquired disbelievingly.

"Of course. About a week after the spider disappears, ultra-hot Spider-Man shows up. Coincidence? I think not." Her voice was calming down, and her eyes weren't alarmed.

Peter looked at her long and hard. Girls actually thought Spider-Man was 'ultra-hot?' The thought both revolted and flattered him. "What if I were to tutor you? I know quite a bit about what happened to Spider-Man. I am, after all, his unofficial photographer. What do you think?" he offered.

"I don't know. You're way more advanced in this science thing. You might explain it in jargon you know, but I would just look stupid with a perplexed expression on my face." She made a motion to turn away, but hesitated.

"I'll use regular words. You'll get a better grade, and everyone ends up happy," Peter reassured.

"Think you could get me an opportunity to talk with Spider-Man? Ask him about how he felt after the spider bit him?" Jackie asked, excited.

"How'd you know the spider bit him?"

"Well, if you think about it, it all fits. A genetically altered spider goes missing, and then a superhero is born. How? Did the spider lay eggs in his brain?" Peter laughed at the absurdity of that, but he also had to repress a shudder of what that would have felt like. "I didn't think so. The only other logical answer is that the spider bit him."

"If you actually did a paper on that, it would most certainly get you a passing grade," Peter complimented.

Jackie blushed crimson. "Well…when you got a crush on him like me, you tend to go out of your way to find out about him." Then her eyes widened in horror. "Did I just tell you that? Good Lord, I did…" She rambled soundlessly to herself as she started walking away.

Her last words didn't phase Peter; he wouldn't let them. There was an odd feeling in the air he breathed after he talked with her, though. He couldn't quite place it.

He was heading down the street and saw Mary Jane run up to him. "Hey, beautiful," he greeted as they hugged.

"How's your day been?" MJ asked as they started walking together, hand-in-hand.

"All right, I guess."

"You guess?"

"I couldn't pay attention in Connors class, today." Peter shrugged his shoulders. "No big deal."

"Something bothering you, Pete?" MJ looked at him with concern.

He shook his head. He didn't feel like worrying her about his Spider-Sense, and even if he did, he couldn't tell her in public.

"I can't help if you don't tell me what's wrong," MJ commented.

"You wouldn't be able to help, anyway," Peter replied, looking at the ground.

Mary Jane knew what he meant. It had something to do with being Spider-Man. It had been really irritating to her that she wasn't able to help him in any way. She just sat there, knowing he was doing something dangerous and heroic, and wondered when he'd be back. She had to try very hard not to roll her eyes.

"Don't forget about that huge fundraiser my theater troop's putting on. It's supposed to be the biggest thing this year," she reminded.

"Right. When was it?" Peter inquired. He'd recollected hearing about it, but he couldn't recall when and where.

"It's this Saturday. Starts at three."

"I'll be there," Peter smiled. "I've got to run. I'll see you later," he said as he saw a carjacker getting away.

MJ grinned, kissed him on the cheek, and whispered in his ear, "Go get 'em, Tiger."

After changing into Spider-Man, web-slinging the bad guy, and escaping the cops, Peter made his way to his small apartment. It was only then he remembered that he didn't tell MJ about Felicia. _Oh well,_ he thought. _She could say hi herself._

"WHERE IS MY RENT?" shouted the landlord as he ran out of his room.

"Right here," Peter said, handing him cash from his pocket. The landlord quickly quieted down and made his way back into his home. _Only a couple more weeks before I can move in with MJ,_ Peter thought. He sighed as he looked at his cheap alarm clock. 8:30 p.m. It felt so much later. He turned to his desk and worked on the finishing touches of his paper that was due tomorrow. When he was finished, he passed out on his bed, still in all of his clothes.


	2. Fluctuating Grade Point Averages

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 2:** Fluctuating Grade Point Averages

In the morning, Peter went through his routine without even thinking about it. His brain kicked in on the way to school, when he realized he had forgotten his report. He took a deep breath and headed back. He almost swore when he saw someone get mugged.

Peter changed into Spider-Man and ran at the fat mugger. "Pick on someone your own size," he said as he noticed the person getting mugged was a young female. Spider-Man spun and kicked him in the face. He then punched the mugger a few times before the mugger was unable to fight back. Spider-Man tied him up in webbing and stuck him to the building.

"Thanks," said the young woman breathlessly.

"Any time, Miss," Spider-Man replied. It was then he noticed it was Jackie. Her eyes were wide with awe, and a deep blush bloomed in her cheeks. If he didn't have the mask, he would have smiled as a good-bye, but instead he just swung off, leaving a very flustered Jackie in the alley.

Peter slipped into class silently. He listened through the lecture, took his notes, and turned in his paper.

"Peter, you were late," said Doctor Connors before Peter got a chance to leave.

"I know, sir. I was held up."

"That doesn't excuse it. Normally, I wouldn't have even accepted your report." Peter looked worried. "But I overheard your conversation with Jackie Salvani yesterday. About how you were going to tutor her. I admire that, and I'll take your paper this time. If Jackie's grades don't come up in the next three weeks, I'll take your grade from this project out of your GPA. Understand?"

"Definitely, Doctor Connors. Thank you." Peter turned around and went outside.

"I was waiting for you," said Jackie. She had a large grin on her face.

"Really?" Though it unnerved him, Peter avoided thinking about it. "I guess I should be thanking you," he said. "It's because of you my paper's being graded."

"Like I really had anything to do with it," Jackie replied modestly. "I bet Doctor Connors told you my GPA had to come up, or yours would go way down."

"Almost. I came in late­—" It was then he noticed she was still smiling like a lunatic. "What's got you so happy?" he asked.

"You'd laugh at me," she said, her cheeks turning red.

"Of course not," he contradicted. Somehow this seemed a bit familiar to him.

Jackie took a deep breath. "I got mugged this morning."

"That's why you're grinning? Because you got mugged?" Peter asked, a look of glaring disbelief on his face.

"I knew you wouldn't get it. It's just…" She trailed off, looking at the ground. "I was rescued."

Peter faked a look of sudden understanding. He thought it funny. "Him." It was all he could manage without laughing.

"I knew you'd think it was hilarious. Let's all make fun of the girl who's got a thing for the superhero," she joked.

"No, no. I don't think it's funny. I think it's cute. I mean, you have no idea what his personality's like. You don't know why he does what he does. Heck, you barely even know what he looks like," Peter explained.

"He's obviously got a hero complex, like with sacrificing himself and stuff. He's a nice guy, because you can't be nice and do what he does. He was possibly picked on, earlier in his life." She continued on.

Peter was baffled that she deduced all this from the simple fact that he was a superhero. Ignoring the heat that rose in the back of his neck, he started talking to her about tutoring.

"The only day I have free is Saturday. Sunday I spend with my family, and Monday through Friday I work and go to class," Jackie informed.

"What time Saturday?" Peter asked.

"Any time between noon and midnight. I sleep until noon and go to sleep at midnight. Pick a time." She gave him her phone number, and told him she had to go. "See ya Saturday," she said.

The next few days passed slowly. Peter took Mary Jane with him to go visit Aunt May, who was getting increasingly ill. She insisted that it was just old age, but the young couple knew better. They went to their homes after a good bye kiss.

Peter talked to Jackie on the phone and told her to meet him at the library. They discussed the time and what needed to be explained. Saturday came, and Peter went on his way to the library.

He saw five guys in black outfits follow some girl down the street. _They never stop_, Peter thought as he took off his normal clothes. He pulled the mask over his face and slung to stop the guys. The idiots tried to take him out one by one. _Not very smart, are they?_ "Who are you guys? MOB? Mafia withOut Brains?" he said as he knocked the last guy out.

"Thanks again," said the girl. It was Jackie.

"This seems suspiciously like you're getting yourself into trouble on purpose," said Spider-Man.

Jackie's face turned crimson. "N-not on purpose. I-I didn't mean to. They just seem to follow me."

"Where were you headed?" Spider-Man asked, knowing perfectly well the answer.

"The library. I'm meeting a tutor there," she explained.

"So you're the girl Peter told me about."

Jackie's eyes widened. "P-Peter told you about me?"

"He mentioned he wouldn't be able to take pictures of me today because he was tutoring a girl who was completely lost in Biochemistry."

Jackie nodded her assent.

"Would you like a ride to the library?" He had no idea why he just offered that, but it seemed like a good idea. He could drop her off, go change, and come rushing in like he'd forgotten about the time. He figured that worked. He looked at Jackie, but she wasn't talking. She just stared. "You okay?" She nodded quickly. "Want the ride?" She motioned affirmative.

Later he would realize that it probably wasn't the best idea, carrying a woman who was as awkward as Jackie. She was terribly thin and long-limbed. He ignored the flash of heat where she clung to him. When he let her go, he noticed her knees trembled when she tried to stand. She gripped the rail on the stairs that entered the library.

"Are you going to be okay?" Spider-Man asked, not liking how odd his voice sounded in that instant.

"I-I think so." She turned swiftly and almost ran into the library.

A few minutes later Peter entered the library, and looked for Jackie.

"Peter!" she called softly.

He turned into the room with tables and chairs. "Hi," he greeted.

"Hey." She didn't say anything else, and Peter took out one of his old Biochemistry books.

"You're awfully quiet, today."

Jackie shook it off like it was nothing. The flush was still on her cheeks and her eyes seemed dazed.

"You wanna tell me what's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm just a little charged right now," she replied curtly.

"What happened?" Peter looked at her in concern. When he'd saved her from the one mugger, she was grinning madly. Now, when he'd saved her from five, and carried her here, she was moody.

Jackie gave Peter a small smile. "I should be learning Biochemistry."

"It's not going to help if you can't pay attention."

Jackie sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm seriously confused."

"About what?"

"Spider-Man."

_Uh oh_, Peter thought. "Why are you confused? I bet he saved you again, didn't he?"

"Yeah, and I know I should be grateful, but I could barely even talk to him. I mean…there were five thugs this time, and he offered to give me a lift. I accepted and…I have no idea what I feel right about now."__

"Don't worry about it. If you're lucky, you might not have to see him again," Peter commented.

"With my luck, you bet," Jackie snorted. "I just…I just wish I could talk to him, you know? And not get all tongue-tied and stuff."

Peter definitely understood that. "Think you could get to work now that you've told me about this?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Think so." Jackie smiled again and they began to work.

After three hours, Peter was proud of Jackie. She's made a definite improvement, most likely because he was using what she termed _regular_ words. "I'll take you to Columbia University's Science Department next week," he promised.

"Thanks a bunch, Pete," Jackie gushed. "It means a lot to me."

"Any time."

"Oh, hold on," she called to his retreating back. He turned around to see the blush bloom on Jackie's face. "Could you please refrain from talking about me to Spider-Man?" He nodded, laughed, and continued his way out the door.

(A/N: Yay! I got reviewers!! Three!!! Yay! You all rock!

**Darth Zelda**: Thanks ever so much. The next update might not come this quick. Hope you won't get discouraged.

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker: **Ahh! That is soooo awesome. I'm really glad you like this, so far. The plot's already moving along, believe me. See if you can spot it. ;-) Peter's gonna wish it'd happen again a bit later, when he's all alone...but, shhhh! I'm not supposed to tell you that, yet. XD

**Quiet Escapist:** Love your penname! I've already written about 11 chappies...but I kinda hit a snag...Like I said to MJ Watson-Parker, he's gonna _wish_ it'd happen again. -shakes head- I put that poor man through torture...I think. Well, think of the title, and that'll tell you _why_ it's torture to him.

I like reviewers, they're nice people. Are you a nice person? Prove it by reviewing! XD Just playin around, but reviews are alwayz appreciated!)


	3. Not His Lucky Week

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 3:** Not His Lucky Week

He looked at the large clock tower. And cursed when he saw the time. _MJ's fundraiser!_ he thought. He ran home, put on his suit, and raced to the building where it was being held.

"Who are you?" said a man who looked to be filling the role of 'bouncer.'

"Peter Parker, I'm the escort of Mary Jane Watson," he explained.

"If you were her escort, why didn't you _escort_ her in at three o'clock?" the bouncer inquired dangerously. Men who stood up their girlfriends disgusted him.

"I got carried away in something." _You can say that, again_, Peter thought to himself.

"I'm sorry. I can't let you in."

Peter let a rush of breath in aggravation. Why'd he always have to get the anal custodians? First that usher, now this bouncer. He shook his head. "Would you please let me in? That's my fiancé in there," he said desperately.

"All the more incentive for me to keep you out. How dare you be late for an event such as this? And leave your fiancé to herself?"

"I'm only a little late!"

"You happen to be two hours late, Mr. Parker. Everything's almost finished. If you'd like, I'll let you stay out here until Miss Watson leaves, then you can _escort_ her home," _You little dirtbag,_ was written on the bouncer's face, even though he didn't say it.

Peter sat down on the steps to a next door apartment building. He put his head in his hands as he tried to think of a way to get out of this one. After awhile, the doors opened, and people poured out.

"Miss Watson, your _escort_," _Boy, this guy's not going to let me live that word down, is he?_ Peter thought. "got here at five ten. Under the rules and regulations of the property, I was not permitted to let him inside. He's waiting for you," the bouncer informed Mary Jane, while pointing at him.

"Hey, beautiful," Peter greeted sadly.

"Don't 'Hey, beautiful' me, Peter Parker. Where were you?" MJ asked as he stood up.

"Protecting your city." Peter left out the tutoring part. He'd tell her about that when she cooled off.

"For a whole two _hours_, Pete? I don't believe it," she snapped.

"So I had a prior engagement. It was an accident. Time flew by. Then that bouncer guy wouldn't let me in—"

"A prior engagement? A prior engagement? Why didn't you tell me beforehand? Or did it slip your mind?"

"I—"

"No. I'm tired of your excuses. I understand you would be a little late in case something came up. But a whole two_ hours_, Peter! For crying out loud, I looked like a fool in there! I was going to announce our engagement, but how stupid would that look if my fiancé wasn't even _there_!"

"I'm sorry. I told you this would be difficult," he reminded.

"Your…thing isn't difficult. It's everything else. I can't trust you to be somewhere, even if I give you a half hour time frame. It's like we're going nowhere, Pete," Mary Jane admitted.

"Aw, come on, now. You can't think that. We're getting married, MJ! We're moving in together in a couple weeks. You can't tell me you feel like we're going nowhere."

"I don't feel like it. I know it. I can't do this." MJ shook her head and her lip quivered. "I just can't do this." She looked as though she were about to cry, and she walked away from him.

"Mary Jane!" he called to her, but she didn't turn around. He could hear her sobbing, but knew she didn't want him to comfort her. He shook his head as the bouncer gave him a look that said, quite plainly, _You deserved that, you slimeball_.

Peter heard the sirens. He ran towards them, which was the opposite way MJ went. He knew his duty, but he was so sorry that he couldn't be there every time MJ needed him to be. He changed into Spider-Man.

He followed them to a jewelry store. _Hello, Black Cat. I knew you were too silent for too long,_ he thought as he saw the feline woman slink into the store. "Hold it, Barbie," he called out.

She let out a snarl. "You, again?" She whipped out a chord that almost hit Spider-Man, but he dodged it right away.

"Yes, me, again. Do you figure that since your outfit doesn't really cover your chest, you could cover it with jewelry? Because if that's your motive, go right ahead and take all the gems you need, hun." He got in a good right hook and grabbed her bag from her hand.

"I'll show you gems," Black Cat growled, and kicked Spider-Man in the supposedly off-limits zone.

He would have laughed if that didn't hurt. He took a deep breath before going after her again. _Ow_. He used his webbing to wrap her up, but found he kept missing. Finally, he thought enough was enough and he kneed her in the stomach. They fell in a wrestling heap, and Spider-Man was able to web her hands and legs together. She was bound when he stood up.

"Going to have your way with me, now?" Black Cat asked slyly.

"My way with you? The only way you're going is to the big house, hun," Spider-Man answered, thankful she couldn't see his blushing face. The cops showed up and took her away. And Spider-Man sighed in relief. Then his spider-sense went off, again. He followed it.

_Gang war_, he thought, _just what I need._ He crawled up the building nearest. Before they could start shooting again, he shot webbing and grabbed all the guns. "Didn't your parents ever teach you not to play with firearms?" he quipped. And spun out of the way when a shot was fired at him from a gun he didn't get. His reaction was slow, and the bullet nicked his shoulder. "Guess not." He jumped down and knocked the gun out of the guy's reach. They battled in hand-to-hand combat for awhile, before Spider-Man realized that this wasn't going anywhere. He web-swung out of the way as two guys ran into each other, and started wrapping them up all in webbing. He tied them in a line across the street. "Let's hope the cops find you before someone decides to barrel over you." With that, he left for home, unaware of the blood he was loosing.

When he got home, he noticed he was getting dizzy. He felt immense pain in his shoulder. He went to his sink and started cleaning the wound. Peter knew he was going to feel that for the next few days. During the week, Peter felt like he was loosing strength. The wound on his shoulder wasn't getting any better, and his reaction time was getting longer. He noticed he was getting hit more, and his hits weren't causing as much damage. _It just isn't my lucky week_, he told himself.

(A/N: Yes...My reviewers have proved they're nice. Isn't it time you did, too? [note: you prove you are so by reviewing!!! XD]

**Darth Zelda**: Yeah, Jackie is a pretty awkward (for lack of a better word) person. Glad you like it. Thanks for reviewing, again.

**Charms41**: Umm....If you think they're alike, that's okay with me. They weren't meant to be. You'll see they're really different a bit later. Thanks for reviewing!

**DiabloDude1**: Of course you're nice. You reviewed! XD. Thanks bunches. Rambling is perfectly fine with me. It's entertaining to read it. :-) Here's more, and thanks for leaving a review!

**laurajslr:** It's going somewhere you'd never expect, I can promise you that. :-) Thanks for reviewing!!!!)


	4. Questioned Beliefs

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 4:** Questioned Beliefs

On Friday, Peter noticed that Felicia wasn't in class the whole week. It was then it dawned on him. _Felicia? The Black Cat?_ He put two and two together, and got the same result. The girl who talked to him the day he met Jackie was the criminal Black Cat. He shook his head as he realized that he should have known sooner. After class, he went to a payphone to call Jackie about tutoring.

"This is she," she said.

"Hi. It's Peter."

"What's up?" she asked, sounding concerned.

_Do I sound that depressed_? Peter thought to himself. "Nothing. I was just wondering if we were still up for tomorrow."

"Yeah. Nothing changed. You okay? You don't sound too good," she noticed.

"I've been sick lately. It's nothing a trip to the doctor won't cure." _Speaking of which, I need to get there soon_.

"Sure? I mean, I know some remedies and stuff that'll get you rested if you're stressed or something," Jackie offered.

"No thanks. I'll be fine. I gotta go. Payphone's only let you on for a little while. Bye."

"Later, Pete."

He hung up the phone and started to make his way to the doctor's office. Peter still trusted him, now he just knew that the doctor knew zip about dreams. He got there and started talking about how he almost got shot, and how he'd been losing strength.

"How'd you almost get shot?" his doctor asked.

"Wasn't really noticing where I was, and I walked straight into a gang war."

The doctor shook his head as he tended the gash. Peter bit back a wince. After the appointment, Peter had to admit that his shoulder _was_ feeling better. The doctor gave him some sleeping pills so that he'd get more rest at night. He sincerely hoped it worked.

The next morning, Peter was surprised to wake up energized and ready to go. His shoulder was just a bit stiff, and as he practiced punching and kicking the air, he found he was moving faster. He got in a shower before the landlord woke up, and he was out the door, going to take pictures of Spider-Man. He took the pictures he had to the Bugle.

"Mr. Jameson, sir?" Peter said as he walked into his office.

"You, again? I suppose you want me to pay you five hundred for a couple of little pictures?" Jameson snapped.

"No, sir. The pay is good enough for now."

"I don't like the sound of that 'for now.' What have you got?"

Peter handed him the shoots.

"Crap." He looked at the next one. "Kind of crap." He flipped to the one after it. "Really crap." His comments varied from picture to picture, as was normal. A few tense minutes passed before…"I'll take 'em all. Give that to the girl at the desk." He handed Peter a slip of paper.

"Thank you, sir."

"Get outta here."

Peter headed out and got his money. He took a deep breath and smiled at his good day. _Got to remember to thank my doctor_, Peter reminded himself on his way to the college. He said he'd meet Jackie out front.

He saw her as he came closer. She was talking to a dangerous looking man with wild, dark hair, and an air around him that said 'Mess with me, and I guarantee it'll be the last thing you do.'

"I'm doing the best I can. It's so much more different than from school," she said desperately.

"You know what you have to do, Jack," the man growled.

"Yes, I do. Believe me, it's not as easy as it sounds!"

"You volunteered for it. You knew the difficulties and risks."

"Hi, Jackie," greeted Peter.

"Hey, Pete." Jackie's face broke into a smile.

Peter saw the annoyed look on the man's face.

"Peter, this is Logan. Logan, meet Peter Parker," she introduced.

They shook hands, and Peter noted how rough Logan's hands were.

"I have to get going. Remember why you're here, Jack. Nice to have met you, Parker," Logan said before turning and heading to a parked motorcycle.

"Is that his?" Peter asked as Logan started to hotwire it.

"Nope." Jackie laughed as he sped away. "He's something else, isn't he?" she said with an indulgent smile. "He's from my old school."

"Where'd you go to high school?" Peter asked.

"I went to a private school. Not even supposed to tell people the name." Jackie shook her head. "So…do we just walk in here?" she inquired curiously.

"Basically. They have tours all the time," Peter explained as they walked in. They joined a small group of people for the next tour.

"There are over thirty-two thousand known species of spider in the world. They are in the order _Araneae_."

"Boy, these presentations never change," Peter commented.

"You've been on a tour in here?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah." Peter carefully avoided telling her when.

"The way I figure it, Spider-Man must have been in one of these tours a week before he was noticed. Two days before he becomes a superhero, he goes into amateur wrestling and creams the defending champion. That match was where he got his name. The Amazing Spider-Man. He didn't get his cash, so he was pretty pissed. But what made him become a vigilante?" Jackie's rambling interested Peter. She'd dug so deep as to know that Spider-Man had tried his hand at amateur wrestling before he fought crime. His Spider-Sense got a bit louder. Understanding that it wasn't about an immediate threat, he ignored it.

"Are you writing a report on Spider-Man? Or how he became Spider-Man?" Peter questioned suspiciously.

Jackie blushed with embarrassment. "It just intrigues me, is all. I want to know what makes him tick, even though I'm researching how he got his powers."

"—into these fourteen, genetically designed super-spiders," was the next thing Peter heard.

"Didn't there used to be fifteen?" Jackie asked out loud.

"Yes," the female scientist replied, "But it died in testing."

"Why?" a little boy asked.

"Somehow it took in DNA that was completely different than its own. It couldn't handle that radical of a genetic mutation, and it died."

Something clicked in Peter's mind. "Do you suppose the spider could've bitten someone? And the DNA was human?" he inquired.

"We have no theories on what type of DNA it was. All we know is that the spider wasn't strong enough to adjust to the alteration. Can we please move on?"

Jackie shot Peter an admiring smile that showed her gratitude. They walked through the rest of the presentation, Jackie taking notes on the important information on genetics. At the end, they stayed behind.

"I hope you enjoyed today's presentation," said the scientist.

Jackie still had questions. "Do you suppose, Doctor…"

"Ling," the scientist supplied.

"Doctor Ling," said Jackie. "Do you suppose your super-spiders are a bit radioactive?"

"We have them under radioactive telescopes but I am not aware of the change that makes in them," Ling replied.

"Well, suppose on of your super-spiders bit a person, how would that bite change the person?"

"It might make them sick, depending on whether or not they are allergic to arachnid-poison. The person might get a tad dizzy, or they might get a fever."

"Do you think it would alter their DNA?"

"It might make them less immune to another bite, but that's about it."

"I think you're wrong."

"Jackie!" Peter stopped. "The doctor's said it wouldn't happen. There must be another explanation. Let's go," he beseeched.

"No! There is no other explanation, and you know it, Peter! Spider-Man was bitten by that fifteenth spider, Doctor Ling." Jackie was getting hysterical, as though her beliefs were being questioned.

"Jackie," Peter said warningly. He held onto her arm and started gently pulling her back, away from the doctor. The doctor left and Jackie wrenched her arm out of Peter's grasp.

"You know as well as I do what happened!" Her nostrils flared and her breathing was heavy.

"I know, but you don't need to get worked up about it."

She regulated her breathing, and her nostrils didn't flare anymore, but her lips were pouted in a determined look. "I'm going to find out what happened to him," she promised. "I'm going to find out what happened to him if it's the last thing I do."

(A/N: Well this is certainly going faster than I thought. I hope you won't be too surprised by the certain twists this takes.

**DiabloDude1**: Sorry to say that the bouncer guy is never going to show up in this story again. Feel free to write something where he gets pummeled or something. I'd be delighted to read about it. Upset about their break-up, are you? It'll get better, I promise. Sadly, I can't just kill off MJ without loosing readers, and her and Peter just don't like _not_ being together...oy...Thanks for reviewing!

**laurajslr**: I didn't see her face in the movie...I was too busy looking at Peter. I know they're gonna have problems. Probably not like this story. MJ's face was probably like that because she was worried about him getting injured or killed or something like that. I wonder if you caught the reason _why_ it wasn't his 'lucky week.' ;-) No one's seemed to mention that...almost making me wonder if you guys didnt catch it, or something...Thanks for leaving a review!

**Darth Zelda**: You came _this_ close to not being in the author note...you're lucky my computer malfuctioned! XD Thanks for reviewing! Hope you like this chapter!!)

-Big grin- I like reviews. So do everyone else on the planet. Could you please review? I'd love to hear about what you think.)


	5. Lucky Duck

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 5:** Lucky Duck

That week, being the last Peter had to make Jackie's grade come on, they'd started tutoring at the library everyday after Peter's class. The last day, Friday, Peter bumped into a familiar face while in the library.

"Mary Jane," he said softly.

"Peter," she replied coldly.

"I've missed you. I haven't seen you around. I tried to call but you didn't answer."

MJ just picked her chin up. "And that's a problem? You seemed to have replaced me very fast." The hurt was evident in her voice as the two pairs of eyes drifted to where Jackie was sitting, blowing bubblegum.

Peter almost laughed. "Mary Jane, I haven't replaced you! I'm tutoring her so that I don't fail Connors' class," he explained. _Listen to me, please, Mary Jane,_ his heart pleaded silently.

"Then why did you take her to Columbia University's Science Department? I thought you weren't studying that right now."

"I'm not, but she is. She's younger. A freshman. Biochemistry to her like the French language to a German. I've been helping her with her report." Peter felt as if a knife was jabbed in his heart, and he could barely breathe.

"On what?"

"On how Spider-Man got his powers."

Her sarcastic laugh drew the knife down deeper, and made it twist painfully. "That's rich! I suppose she knows, then?" she asked loudly.

"Of course not." It sounded a bit like a whine to Peter's ears but he had to explain himself. "I didn't tell her. She dug so deep she knows about the wrestling and the tour a week before he was noticed. I have to be super careful…"

"You can stop lying to me, Peter. I understand completely. Can't stand the thought of the limelight so you won't even try to be there for me. All those times you called, I wasn't home. You could have called me when I told you I'd be home!"

Peter couldn't think of a reply. He could have smacked himself in the forehead for not remembering the times MJ was home. The limelight comment was uncalled for, but he couldn't deny it. Refusing the fact that he'd told Jackie who he was wouldn't deter Mary Jane from believing it. He just took a deep breath and hoped MJ wouldn't take his silence the wrong way.

"I knew it," she murmured.

_Darn it_.

"Pete," Jackie called softly. She motioned for him to go over by her. He obliged.

"What in the world _is_ this?"

Peter was aware of MJ watching the two of them as he went into a long science talk. He'd forgotten about the _normal_ words agreement, and used terms Jackie said she wasn't able to understand, but there she was, nodding her head like she comprehended every syllable of it.

Suddenly he asked, "Have any idea _who_ Spider-Man is, exactly? Like his name or anything?" so that MJ could hear.

"I wish," Jackie said before she caught herself.

"Me neither," he agreed. "There's someone I'd like you to meet." He motioned for MJ to come over. _Let this work, God, I'll do anything,_ he thought.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"MJ, this is Jackie Salvani. Jackie, this is Mary Jane Watson," he introduced as though nothing was wrong.

Jackie smiled at her. "I know you," she said admiringly. "You were in that play, It's Important to Be Earnest, or something, right? I thought it was great!"

"You did?"

"Yeah! You were awesome. Your picture is everywhere!" Jackie gushed.

MJ managed a modest shrug. "I hear you're kind of lost with Biochemistry," she said.

"Kind of? Try, I'm so lost a road map won't help me," the thin brunette corrected in a joking tone.

"And here we are, working on how to get you _not_ lost," Peter added.

"What do you think of your tutor?" MJ asked shamelessly.

"Peter should become a teacher," Jackie said as though he wasn't right next to her. "He really explains stuff so that I can understand it all. Without him, I'd be failing."

"You still might be," Peter reminded.

"That paper's almost finished, though," Jackie whined.

"That doesn't mean you can slack off."

Jackie let out a rush of breath. "He's about as strict as a teacher, too," she added.

MJ almost laughed. "Can I talk to you, privately?" she asked her.

"Of course," Jackie agreed. She got up and followed MJ out of the room out the front doors.

"You do realize that I'm Peter's girlfriend?" MJ inquired.

"No," Jackie replied sarcastically. "The minute he saw you I could tell. His eyes went starry and he lost track of what he was doing. He was supposed to be finding the book, _Genetics for Dummies_, but then you showed up." She smiled like she did for Logan. "The poor little nerd," she said affectionately.

"Just making sure," MJ said.

"Don't worry about it. I'm pretty much not looking 'til I get back to my regular school," Jackie admitted.

"You mean you're not staying for the full four years?"

She shook her head. "I plan on turning this report in, staying a few weeks longer, and then heading back."

"Why?"

"Because I only needed a taste of college life. I didn't think it would be that different from my regular school, because I live at my regular school, but I found it to be quite different. Not to mention harder and larger classes." She laughed.

"Well, I'm glad I met you." MJ didn't know why, but she felt like she could trust this girl. "Now I don't have to worry about Pete cheating on me."

"Peter? Never. I can not see him doing that. Ever," Jackie said in defense.

MJ shrugged. "He can be late to a lot of stuff, though. Like, two weeks ago, my theater troop had this fundraiser. It was supposed to be the biggest event this year. It started at three. Peter got there at five."

A look of guilt flashed on Jackie's face. "I'm sorry. He was tutoring me that day. He didn't say anything about your event."

MJ nodded as though she already knew that. "It's in the past. Now, if you'll excuse me," she said with a sly smile, "I have to go reconcile with my fiancé."

Peter was looking over the books they'd been using. He had no idea what the two women were talking about out there, only that it was about him. When he saw MJ approaching with a large smile on her face and that look in her eyes, Peter knew she'd forgiven him. He stood up to meet her. He made to hug her, but she moved in that instant and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

"If you ever forget anything again," she said while taking a breath, "I'll make you pay." She crushed her mouth to his, again.

"Okay," he said against her lips.

"Guys! This is a library! Not a hotel room!" Jackie interrupted.

They broke apart, muttering apologies.

"This weekend, Tiger, you're moving in. Don't forget," MJ grinned as she walked away.

"Oh, I won't," he said to her retreating back.

"Lucky duck," Jackie mumbled.

"What'd you say?"

"I said 'lucky duck,'" she repeated.

"Why?"

"What I wouldn't give to be in love like that, right now. To just…feel like everything else is _so_ insignificant, and the only thing that would ever matter is him. To be able to get lost his eyes, and not worry about finding my way out." Jackie wrapped her arms around herself. "To hear him say that he'll be there for me." She started rambling again. Peter felt like he could relate. He was that frustrated before he'd become Spider-Man, and had no idea what lay beyond observing and wishing.

"I think we're done for today. Tonight, reread over the material we went through today. Try not to get distracted, and add a bit more to your paper. We've got three days to perfect it, and it'll be fine as long as we work on it every day until it's due." He hated to bring her out of her reverie, but reality could not be shunted to the side for daydreams.

Jackie nodded and gathered up her stuff. "See ya tomorrow," she promised, and left, her trance-like state still obvious. Knowing what she was about to get herself into, Peter discreetly followed her as Spider-Man. Sure enough, an armed thief decided to try to take her out.

"Don't get trigger-happy with that thing," Spider-Man warned as he hit the gun out of the thief's hand. He grabbed it and flung it into the road, where a car ran over it. He dodged as the man took out a knife and started swiping. He was still moving when he noticed the knife fly out of the guy's hand. It was in the air, bending and twisting as though some force was doing it. Then Spider-Man looked at Jackie. Her arm was up, perpendicular to her body, with her palm open and facing the sky, her eyes closed. Suddenly, the knife flew to her hand. Before the thief knew what was happening, the knife was in his arm.

"If you're lucky, you'll only lose a bit of blood, and have to wear a sling for a few weeks," Jackie commented, power radiating from her. A lightening bolt clapped in the sky as a strong wind blew the man away from the two.

If Spider-Man didn't have the mask on, Jackie would have seen a look of confusion on his face. "What was that?" he asked.

(A/N: A cliffhanger! Hoorah! Take that! -hehehehe, just kidding. XD I've got reviewers! Ah! I'm so happy! You all rock!!!

**Quiet Escapist: **Welcome back! I'm glad you like everything! I didn't notice that I had action and all that...I just wrote my ideas down...I'm not going to answer those questions...You'll see for yourself within the next chapter or two. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for reviewing! And I like reviews long! Really!

**Darth Zelda:** Yay! You like it! Yay! Jackie learns a lot from this...and not just talking about academic stuff. XD

**MM: **Happy, now? They can be happy with other people. And Spider-Man's a super-hero, there's bound to be some friction with _something_ somewhere. Thank you for reviewing...hope you won't cut this story out of your reading once you know the plot. That would be sad.

**laurajslr: **Those were the results of his unfortunate week...but what happened to make him have the kind of week? Don't know? Then I'll just leave it for later to let you know about. Thanks for letting me know that you're not going to be there...neither am I! I'm going on vacation, again! After I just got back from Florida...but that's okay...this story will still be here when we get back...I hope...:-p lol. Thanks for reviewing!

**Freakonature: **Glad you like it. Hope you like this chapter! Thanks for leaving a review!

**DiabloDude1: **Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Of course I like MJ -shifty eyes as the Spider-Man poster on the wall gets the MJ half torn off- XD He could do a lot better...Thats awesome that you love this! Here's my update! And thank you for leaving a review!!!!!! XD

Ahhh I love people...:-) Have a nice day.)


	6. Anti Mutant Movements

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 6:** Anti-Mutant Movements

Jackie took a deep breath as though she were jumping over the edge of a cliff. "My name is Jack-of-All-Trades," she introduced. The thief had run away with the blade still in his arm. Jackie was shaking with the effort she exercised.

"That's an odd name," Spider-Man said.

_You don't know the half of it,_ she mused. She breathed deeply, again. "I've been trying to contact you for over three weeks. I'm an emissary from Professor Xavier at his school for gifted children. I'd like you to come with me, and travel to the school."

"Why?" _What in the world is this about?_ Spider-Man thought.

"The word 'gifted', in simple terms means 'mutants'. Professor Xavier has noticed your unique talents and wishes for you to talk with him. He has formed a team called the X-Men, and they help other mutants to protect themselves."

The suspicious glance Spider-Man shot at Jackie went unseen. _Mutants?_ Something clicked. All the things he'd been hearing about people with inborn talents that weren't natural for humans. He'd disregarded them as tabloid sellers. He was too stunned to speak for a while. "Where would I have to go to talk with him?" he finally asked.

"The school's location is not given away freely. When and if you decide to go, you can see for yourself. I'd be in trouble if I just outright told you about it," Jackie replied in a small voice. Her face was beat red and her eyes were locked to the ground.

"Do you honestly expect me to go to this unknown place with you, when the only things I really know are that you get into scrapes a lot, and that there's a man named Professor Xavier who wants to talk to me about mutants?" The tone of his voice betrayed that he would do no such thing.

"No, but I really would like you to think about it. We need you, Spider-Man; no ifs, ands, or buts about it." Desperation lightly laced Jackie's voice.

"If I say no?"

"Not only will a lot of people be put in unnecessary danger, but so will _you_."

"I might think about it. When Peter tells me about the report and how it went, I'll possibly give you my answer," he relented.

Jackie let out a sigh of relief. "I was so afraid you were going to hate me or something. I mean…it's no accident that I've had to be saved more than once."

Because she couldn't see the questioning look, Spider-Man had to voice his confusion.

"It took me awhile to be able to talk to you without stuttering or anything. I mean, the first time you rescued me, I was just thinking, 'Oh, my Lord, he's real.' And I do, really, have a crush on you, like Peter probably told you. I just…didn't know whether or not you were just some tale made up to make me look like a fool in front of my class." When Jackie noticed she was rambling, she gazed down at her feet, embarrassed that she had said so much. She avoided looking at Spider-Man. She said a little more, and she sounded a bit forlorn. "See, I have a reputation of screwing stuff up. This was supposed to be my chance to redeem myself." She shrugged. "I probably won't have any other chances, but oh well. It's your life, I guess." She breathed a body-racking sigh. In deep thought, she just stood there.

"Hey," said Spider-Man as he stepped closer. He lifted Jackie's face from the ground by her chin. "You'll get other chances to redeem yourself. Don't beat yourself up because they judge you on what you can't do. You're right. It is my life, so it's not your fault if I refuse. I will seriously think about your offer." He was going to say more, but found the feeling of being this close to her supremely uncomfortable. He wanted to be closer, but he knew he needed to be farther. He felt her breath on his mask, and just stood there, staring into her dark eyes. He gently let go of her chin, and stepped back. "Don't get into any more trouble on purpose. I can find you easily enough. See you when Peter tells me how your report went," he said as he swung off, not liking how husky his voice sounded.

He got home, and looked at the boxes he'd already packed. Summer clothes were in a cardboard box that was sealed with tape and marked. Old volumes of encyclopedias from his youth were in another box that was considerably bigger. He still needed to straighten up a bit, but that could be done on the last day.

He took the sleeping pills he still had, and slept dreamlessly. When he woke up, he was not as energized as the first time he took the pills, but that was to be expected, the doctor told him. He went to class, and was not late. As soon as class finished, Peter figured he could make the rounds quickly as Spider-Man to make sure everything was peaceful. It wasn't, and a few tough guys got it harder than usual. Afterwards, he went to the library.

When he saw Jackie, he knew something was wrong. Her eyes were bloodshot, and there were shadows under them. Her hair was more messed up than normal, and she looked like the life had been sapped out of her.

"Jackie? What's wrong?" he asked, sounding concerned.

Her expression was like she wanted to cry, but tears weren't forthcoming.

"I know something's not right. Care to tell me about it?"

"I'm not returning," she commented without feeling.

"When were you even leaving?" he inquired, remembering that he wasn't supposed to know about her mission.

"I'm leaving when I turn in my paper that we both worked so diligently on." Her voice was different now, and not just because of the hollowness. There was an intelligence, hidden deep within it, that wasn't evident before.

"Why?" Even though he knew the answer, it would be suspicious not to ask. He cared about her, and, as a friend who cared, he asked.

"My task will be complete after I get the answer from Spider-Man." She proceeded to tell him about how she was to talk to him about Professor Xavier's school for gifted children.

Peter noted her surprise when he didn't get angry, but nodded like he already knew. "Spider-Man told me. He's really thinking it over, but he doubts he will go."

Jackie huffed in frustration. Her melancholy turned to anger. "It shouldn't be that hard to figure out. If he stays here, he'll get badly injured, and a mass of kids will get locked away, or worse, killed," she snapped.

"If he doesn't stay here, who'll protect the city against crime?" Peter countered in defense.

"The police!" Jackie said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It _is_ their job, ya know? It's not like it's a 'damned if you do; damned if you don't' situation!"

_Oh but it is_, Peter thought.

"I don't think I'll be able to work on the report today. I'm too preoccupied." Having said this, Jackie crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back into her chair. Lips pursed in controlled annoyance, she gazed at the ceiling.

"We need to. There are still holes in it. If those holes are still there when the teacher grades it, it's flunked. You don't want that, do you?" He didn't mean it to come out harsh and commanding, but it did, and Jackie looked at him oddly. "_Well_?"

"Of course not," she replied humbly. She took a deep breath and uncrossed her arms.

"Alright, then. Let's pull yourself together, and fill in these holes."

That day, the two accomplished more than they ever had in a single day. As Peter reflected on it on the way home, not even seeing the brewing storm, he realized it was because Jackie didn't talk about different subjects, request breaks, or make random jokes about the materiel they were reading. It unnerved him to think about the events that led up to this. What would he answer? Would he agree? It would be for common good, he noticed after thinking about it. Certain people needed protecting, and he was good at that. He picked up a Bugle Paper and paid for it.

'_Mutant Riots Breaking Out Everywhere,'_ was the headline. People with signs were protesting 'THE FREAKS OUGHT TO BE LOCKED UP!' As Peter read the article, he knew they'd be turning against him as Spider-Man, again. He bumped into a tall man on accident when he didn't pay attention to where he was going.

"Sorry," he murmured.

"No problem," the man said back. "Hey, you're that Peter Parker, aren't you?" Peter turned around. The man had an arm in a sling. The other hand was in a pocket of his large overcoat.

"That would be me," he replied.

"Yeah, I heard from Curt Connors that you were tutoring at the library…Wait a minute, haven't I seen you somewhere, before?" A flash of lightening enabled Peter to see the man's face. Peter blanched as he remembered that face. He was on the train with Doc Ock. "Spider-Man?"

Peter sighed. "Guilty as charged, I guess."

"Amazing. I'm Greg Nowak."

"Nice to meet you." They shook hands. Immediately, Greg's hand that wasn't in the sling went back into his pocket.

At the worried look on Peter's face, Greg said, "I won't tell anyone your real identity, don't worry about that. I've had a bit of experience with hiding secrets."

"Right." Peter was feeling too awkward to say anything else.

"What happened to Doctor Octopus, anyway? Nobody's seen or heard from him since that day on the train," Greg wondered.

Peter took in breath. "He sacrificed himself to stop his fusion reactor. He's at the bottom of the river," he explained calmly.

"I see. He was a real nutcase. I'd have use of both my arms at this minute if not for him." He paused as he looked at the sling that held his arm. "When he shoved the lot of us back to get to you, one of those metal limbs connected with my arm and knocked it straight into the window. Besides breaking the bone cleanly in two, there were glass shards that had to be removed."

As he was telling this, Peter shot a quick glance at the paper still in his possession. Greg noticed.

"Hear about all the anti-mutant movements, eh?" Peter nodded. "They'll be demanding to _tag_ us next, the fools." It wasn't said with the venom for vengeance, but rather with pity for their prejudices.

"Us?" was all Peter could say. Not really being used to speaking to strangers unless behind his mask, he couldn't really think of anything to say.

"I'm…ya know…one of _them_. I…uh…can create things. Breathe life into them and such," Greg explained.

"Fascinating," Peter complimented.

Greg shook his head. "I can't help protect anyone, though. Others have told me that I have the power to destroy as well as create but I could never…" His voice trailed off.

"There are more of you?" Peter asked.

"We all live in one suburb. It's kind of understood what we are, but we live like normal people, without any hassles or worries about keeping secrets from our neighbors."

"I never knew."

"That's what I meant by having the experience of keeping secrets. I take it you've talked to the plant from Professor Xavier?" he inquired curiously.

"You knew about that? How?" Peter asked.

"Xavier keeps in contact with us, and tells us what's going on in our state. So, thought about your answer?"

This caught Peter so off guard that he told the truth and his doubts about going. "I can't go. There are people who count on me."

Greg sighed. "Think carefully, Peter. There's more to this than it seems. I hope to see you, again, some time," he said.

"Same here. Good night, Mr. Nowak."

"Call me Greg. Good night to you, too, Spider-Man." The tall man with a broken arm turned and went his separate way.

Peter made his way home, and slept soundly without the medication that night.

(A/N: Wow...I never dreamed I would have 20 reviews and I'm only at chapter 6...marvelous! Stupendous! Amazering! ----that is a word made up from something I can't quite remember...I just know that it's fun! XD

**FieryKitsune**: Like yur penname. It's very interesting. Thank you for reviewing. Hope the mystery isn't quite gone, yet...but I have more than one plot brewing....mwahahahahahahaha -cough cough- Ahem...Peter's doctor gave him some medication, and the aftereffects of _something _have faded away, so Peter's finding himself better than before. :-)

**Quiet Escapist**: That certainly was a long enough review. I liked it. -lopsided grin-. Jackie's knack for attracting trouble is explained in this chapter. I'm not going to comment on the PeterxMJ relationship simply because it's going to be one of those things that will be undecided until the end. Thanks for the long review! XD

**DiabloDude1**: Yay! I know I have _at least_ one intelligent reviewer!! Hoorah! Congrats, dude. Umm....it was not Dunst's fault that the character of MJ was screwed up, she was simply following orders(not that I'm _defending_ her or anything. You wanna hate her, that's perfectly fine with me...We could start a Dunst Bashing Club or something...hehehe lol). Hope you enjoy this chapter. -big smile-

**Laurajslr**: Did I frustrate you with that cliffhanger? Terribly sorry. I won't do it again in this chapter, I promise. :-) I still can't believe that someone's parents actually _wanted_ me to go with them on their family vacation...It was just odd...hope you had fun on your trip, and that you enjoy this chapter. -thumbs up-

I'm happy. If you're happy, too, you should review! Actually, you should review anyway cuz I need to get better at writing and hear what you have to say. Thanks for reading!! :-) )


	7. Too Attached to People

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 7:** Too Attached to People

The next day, Jackie looked a bit healthier. The shadows under her eyes weren't as big as before, and she actually smiled when Peter met her in the library. It wasn't a big grin, but it was a tug at the corners of her mouth.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

"Yeah. I slept all through the night, actually. I thought being a spy and stuff would be cool, you know? Like, covering up the truth and playing a constant role to meet my goal." She opened one of the books they hadn't looked through, yet. After a few minutes, she kept talking. "I spoke to Logan after you left, yesterday. He said I wouldn't make a good spy. I 'get too attached to people' were his exact words. He actually told me that I had to forget I ever knew you."

That peeked Peter's interest. "He told you to forget about me?"

She nodded. "I couldn't do that, and I told him. He wasn't too happy when I told him about how you knew everything about me and stuff. He said he was disappointed, and that I'd have to sever any ties I had with this place. I can't do it, Pete. I thought about it, and thought about it. I just can't handle it." She went back to the book.

Peter talked to a lot of people in the next week. He asked MJ if he could postpone moving in for a bit, and then he requested to Connors that he grade Jackie's paper first, and then give it to her as fast as possible. Spider-Man paid Jackie a visit after her class the Friday after. He didn't say anything, but he picked her up and swung her to a place where they could talk privately, which happened to be the roof of a building.

"How long will I be gone?" he asked.

"For as long as we need you," Jackie replied. She looked him in the eyes as she said this. _Does he know I'm asking him to leave his entire life behind?_ she mused.

"Do you have an estimate or anything? I can't just leave people here without news of when I'm coming back."

Jackie took a deep breath. "You won't be coming back fairly soon. In fact, I doubt you'll return at all."

Spider-Man was about to agree before this. He wanted to see what this Professor Xavier was going to talk to him about, but now? How was he supposed to get up and desert his home and family?

"If you don't agree, others will get you. OsCorp was bought out by a man by the name of Wilson Fisk. He's already created a prototype to find mutant DNA signatures in the New York area. I've seen one. It's a machine that hovers and has more ammunition that an armory. It's dangerous, Spider-Man. It could kill you, and no one would know where you disappeared to," Jackie explained.

Knowing he was making a big decision, he assented. There were no requirements, no conditions. That's what he thought in his head. Jackie had mentioned severing ties with the place, and he was doing the exact same thing, so that she wouldn't be alone.

"Okay. I have transport waiting at my home. The only thing is that you look pretty conspicuous in your get-up. Care to trust me enough to let me know who you are?" she asked.

Spider-Man almost shook his head, until he thought of the perfect plan. "Tell me where you live, and we'll race. You get there before me, and I'll tell you who I am. I get there before you, and you're not going to know, ever."

Jackie, understanding this, nodded and wisely said nothing but her address. She lived down a winding road that twisted and turned into several different streets, and it was almost impossible to find unless she explained the directions, which she never did to Spider-Man.

Spider-Man committed her address to memory, and vaguely remembered the area. A little boy had gotten lost awhile ago, and he'd lived around there. Boy was that a mess trying to find his home in the confusing area. Whoever designed the housing plans was definitely a little 'out there,' and took joy in others' perplexity.

"On your mark," he started. "Get set. Go." He was gone, without even looking back. Jackie just stood there, looking lost. He shook his head as he realized what he'd done. After awhile, he saw the house with Jackie's address on it. As he got closer, he saw Jackie, who was talking to the driver of a sleek, silver, Mitsubishi Spider. The driver had a red visor over his eyes and didn't look much older than Spider-Man was.

"How did you get here?" Spider-Man asked Jackie.

She smiled secretively. "I have my ways. Who _are_ you?"

"We don't have any time for this, Jack. We have to get him to headquarters," the driver interrupted. "Both of you, get in the car."

Spider-Man did so without question, but Jackie rolled her eyes. "I did what I was supposed to. Do you have to treat me like I'm still a little girl, Scott?" She slammed the door shut.

"You still are a little girl to me, Jack. I can remember the first day you came to Xavier's. You were thirteen. You didn't change much over these five years," he answered.

Jackie rolled her eyes again. She looked at Spider-Man. "You know, he wouldn't even let me sit in the front seat. Rotten slime…"

"We still need to get Logan," Scott reminded curtly.

"I can tell you're just thrilled about that," Jackie retorted.

"_I_ let go of unchangeable things, instead of permitting them to fester. I have moved on, and let go. You seem to have a problem with that."

"That was uncalled for." Spider-Man didn't like the drudging up of the past, and he wasn't about to let Jackie be bested by this man who didn't even show his eyes to the outside world. He would have said so, but knew there was more to that than met the eye.

"Don't," Jackie said. "Who are you?" She was relentless.

Spider-Man shook his head as he pulled off his mask. Jackie said nothing, but her eyes went as big as saucers and appeared owlish.

The car pulled to a jerky stop and Logan entered the front seat. "Parker?" he said, looking to the back.

"That would be my name," he replied shyly.

"Would have never guessed you were the webhead," he commented with a shrug of the shoulders. "What's your problem, Jack? You look like you just saw a ghost."

Jackie gulped and shook her head. "I-I'm fine. Just fine," she said quickly.

"If you feel like you need to lie to me, then you're obviously not fine." He said no more, but turned to the front.

"Why did you feel like you couldn't tell me?" Jackie whispered to Peter.

"I can't tell anyone. Only three people know. One's Mary Jane, the other's at the bottom of the river."

"What about the last one?" she asked.

Peter's eyes widened in horror. "Harry," was the only thing he muttered. "Scott, stop the car!" he yelled suddenly.

"You out of your mind? We might be tracked," Scott calmly explained.

"I just left a very dangerous man in my city without anyone to protect them! I can't just leave! Take me back! Now!" he shouted.

Jackie, knowing this wouldn't end well, looked Peter in the eye. "I'll take care of it," she promised. She remembered many a time Peter would voice worry about his best friend that wouldn't talk to him, any more. She closed her eyes and disappeared.

"Jack!" Logan called, but she was already gone. "That fucking girl," he swore.

Jackie opened her eyes, and she was back in her house. She sighed as she thought about how angry Scott and Logan would be. It was her fault the city didn't have their superhero. She wasn't going to be at fault for any deaths.

She looked around her house for extra material from anything. She hated skintight clothes, so she made baggy, black pants out of a tent she used to own. She grimaced at the only black shirt in her wardrobe. It said '_Boy crazy_' on it. She didn't want to have to make another shirt, but she would if she had to. She went through old boxes and found another tent. She made a long-sleeved shirt, gloves connected, that had a hood that went completely over her face. She cut eye holes and glued goggles to them. The goggles had a paint on the outside that stopped others from seeing her eyes. She looked at herself in the mirror, and blushed with embarrassment. She looked like a fool. She shrugged as she thought of the good she'd do. With a will, she floated above the ground. The weightlessness swam in her head, making her feel dizzyingly light. A breeze that she conjured was blowing through her hair, and she felt as though she were flying. Into the breeze she practiced moving and turning. When she got the moves down, she lowered herself.

She took a deep breath. "Here I go," she said to herself, and she left her home for the city.

Living off the rest of a trust fund was not the way Harry Osborne was used to living. Financial advisors had counseled him to save every penny he could, but he simply refused to see that, in the next three years, all of his money would be gone, and he'd be more broke than Parker. The thought of him had Harry's hackles raising. The traitor. Harry's father had loved Peter like a son, and how did he repay him? By killing him. The murderous bastard must pay.

As Harry's thoughts turned insane, he could feel a force taking over him. It thrilled him with power. A shiver went down his spine as a mad grin appeared on his face. He was alone, and it was a good thing, for anyone who saw him would know what he was. Crazy.

He entered the Goblin's Room, as he called it, and strapped on the suit. He barely even thought about what he was doing. All he knew was that he needed to fly the glider, and the Goblin would do the rest.

"What is going on?" Peter asked the two men in the front seat.

"Didn't Jack tell you? We're going to Professor Xavier's school for gifted children," Scott informed.

"She did, but why?"

"There are new machines that were created by OsCorp when new management took over. Quest Aerospace is run by someone new, and they bought OsCorp. The new company made the machines. They can track certain DNA signatures, and right now they're set to stun and capture anything that's a little odd for human DNA. Which is why we needed to get you out of there, and why Jack is in a large heap of trouble if she's caught." Logan continued to stay quiet.

"There's a whole suburb of…people like you in New York. What are you going to do about them?" Peter inquired, remembering Greg Nowak and their conversation.

"They're already what we call 'registered.' The government knows about them, and the machines have been programmed to stay out of there. Any mutant that leaves the boundary of that suburb will be captured and put back inside."

"Why don't we go there, then?"

"They know exactly who is in there. If an unidentified DNA signature entered, they'd know and take the unidentified signature back to their base."

"Their base?"

"What's with all the questions, kid? You're out, that's all you need to know," Logan interrupted gruffly.

"Don't worry. You'll learn more when we get to the school."

_What about Jackie?_ Peter thought. The silence was starting to annoy Peter. He'd put his mask back on, but Scott had told him there was no need because people couldn't see inside the car anyway. They pulled up to an old building as the sun was setting. Peter followed the two men into the building.

_"Peter_."

(A/N: Another cliffhanger! Me thinks I'm getting addicted to them...-evil grin- But you know what I'm really getting addicted to? Reviews!

**DiabloDude1:** Dunst is the blondest, snottiest, wannabe actress ever! I've read one comic book in my life, and that was Ultimate Spider-Man that I bought in a retail shop in Minnesota, and it was really old. It was where Kingpin managed to frame Spider-Man for murder. But I have a father who is a comic book buff, and he tells me everything. -sigh- About the moving in thing...you'll see what happens! Thanks for reviewing! Don't kill me for the cliffie!

**Zimbing**: Thanks for reviewing! Here's more! -chesire cat grin-

**Kiri-Koli**: Yay! You reviewed! Even though it was bad! I changed it and I hope people go back and read it over and tell me how much better it is. Thanks bunches for the talks and hints, and for reviewing...maybe I could get you to review again...but not in a bad way! lol!

**Misty**: Ummm....no. Peter didn't think of it cuz I didn't think of it. Sorry about that. Glad you like it, and I hope you like this chapter!

**Laurajslr**: I like turns and twists. My favorites are ones that make you think "Is it? Or isn't it?" and you have no idea until the very end. Am I going to do that to you? Possibly -evil grin-. I follow the films mostly of those two stories, so no worries. There are some characters that were in the cartoon shows, or comic books, but I try to describe them well enough that you know what's going on. The relationship with Peter and MJ is undecided, so you can try to guess for youself! -lol- You know I'm tired when I use large words. Then it's usually too late to make me sleep and I get overtired...look out world! -lmao- Hope you like this chapter and thanks much for reviewing!!!!!

These people were nice and reviewed. You should review, too. Then I get to talk to you directly above this! Wouldn't that be fun? hehehe)


	8. Meet Virginia

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 8:** Meet Virginia

Peter whipped around. "Who's there?" he called out.

"Xavier's started on him," Logan commented to Scott.

"_Peter._"

"Why is there a voice calling to me?" he asked Scott.

"You'll see." He opened a pair of oak doors and led him in. Sitting at the window was an elderly man who was bald and in a wheelchair.

"Welcome, Mr. Parker. My name is Professor Charles Xavier, and I am the headmaster of this school," the man said.

Peter, still in the Spider-Man getup, didn't even ask how he knew his name. "What do you want with me?" he asked.

"I was wondering if you'd like to help us. What with your abilities and background, you would have been a target to those machines, and if you were to join us, we couldn't have you 'registered,' now, could we?"

"What exactly do you do?" Peter inquired.

"We campaign for mutant rights. We find the oppressed mutants and take them here, where it is a haven. We stop those trying to harm others, and we teach those who are underage responsibility. Something, I'm sure, Mr. Parker, you understand completely."

How he knew was beyond Peter, but there was only one more question on his mind. "What are you going to do about Jackie?" he asked.

"Virginia Salvani will be closely watched by the mutants in the area. For too long they have hidden inside the enemies' quarters, and they will break free now, and help young Virginia back."

Peter felt his thoughts being probed. His perplexity was let known to the professor.

"Virginia Salvani is well known to _all_ mutants. With her powers, everyone who knew anyone that was a mutant knew of the girl nicknamed Jack-of-all-trades. All her life she was shunned, and when people finally started to notice her, they saw that she was, indeed, a very powerful little girl. She came to us five years ago. She has changed very much since then. I realized that she could be a very valuable asset in our latest… mission, I guess you could call it. When we planted her at Columbia University, she could not have her real name. As to avoid confusion, we gave her all the credentials to be Jacquelyn Marie Salvani, instead of Virginia Rhian Salvani. The people from this school are used to calling her 'Jack,' so it would not be too much of a change to get people to call her 'Jackie.'"

Peter nodded. It all made sense. "I'll join your group. What do I do, now?"

Jackie collapsed on her porch in her regular clothes at five in the morning after her first day of patrolling NYC. Her breathing was heavy and she was exhausted. "How the hell does Peter do this every day?" she asked to no one in particular. She wasn't working, or going to school. She basically didn't exist, except when she had her black outfit on and she was defeating crime. A new baddy showed up and tried to use her to get Spider-Man to come back, but he had realized that Spider-Man was gone forever. After a death-defying plunge to the ground from a hundred story building, Jackie was shaken to the core. Still was. Then he attempted to blow the hundred story building up. She was able to get everyone out, but there were still a few casualties; people who were walking by, or the people who didn't hear the announcement to evacuate the building. She'd left with one of the police officers telling her that 'she couldn't save them all.' Now, she crawled on her hands and knees throughout her house and found a message on her answering machine.

"Hey, Jackie. It's MJ. Have you seen Peter? He's gone. He was supposed to move in with me, today, but I have no idea where he went. If you've seen him, give me a call, will you, please? I'm half out of my mind with worry. He wouldn't be gone a whole day doing…other stuff, but he hasn't been in all day!"

_Lady, I just spent a whole day doing _other stuff._ It's entirely possible he could spend the rest of his life doing that, and nothing but that,_ Jackie thought in response to the message. She sighed as she strained to stand and then she picked up the phone and dialed the number MJ left in the message.

"It's Jackie," she said into the phone. She didn't know whether or not MJ would even be up this late, or rather, this early.

"Oh, my God, do you have any idea where Peter is?" MJ asked frantically. So she was. Jackie now knew the extent of her affection for Peter.

Jackie decided the truth would be best. "Peter isn't coming back, MJ. He's been recruited for something much bigger than crime-fighting in this city."

"You know? He told you?" Jackie knew she was talking about the fact that he was Spider-Man.

"I won a bet, but I would have found out eventually. There is an organization that wanted Peter's help with something. It has to do with mutants."

"You mean Peter just left everything?"

"Exactly. I'm telling you this because I think you're a good person and friend. And because Peter loves you." She paused while MJ held her breath. "I was a plant. I was to talk to Spider-Man and get him to join the organization."

There was silence on the other line. Suddenly, Jackie heard the dial tone. She swore to herself as she hung up. She cursed herself for thinking MJ would understand.

_Damn the world, and all who live in it_, Harry thought to himself as he reflected on his latest failure. He meant to capture the little super-heroine and lure Spider-Man to come to him. Then the bitch told him that Spider-Man was gone forever, and that he, Harry, would never be able to touch him. Furious, he had thrown the girl over the side of the building. From her screams, he doubted she lived through it. He smiled evilly. She deserved it. They all deserved it when the building blew. Every single one of those people deserved to die for different reasons. Harry's madness talked to him late into the night. Though it had started as his father's, the voice slowly changed into his own and his original intentions were forgotten. The only clear thing that was constant now was the fact that Spider-Man must die. He fell asleep thinking about all the satisfying ways to kill Spider-Man and his adoring fan in black that was covering for him.

Jackie woke up when the alarm in her head went off. She'd thought of a power that would tell her when something notorious was going on, and it worked. In Jackie's opinion, it worked too well. She'd slimmed down the requirements, and it was still buzzing every few hours. She got up and immediately put on her outfit and headed out from the back. She followed the alarm, and found the baddy from yesterday. He was green and tall and he was standing on a flying machine.

"Not you, again," Jackie moaned.

"I suppose I could say the same for you."

In the back of her mind, Jackie vaguely remembered hearing Peter talk about the Green Goblin. She'd read about him, too, of course. But she thought he'd died. She didn't ponder on that subject because bombs were flying at her.

She jumped out of the way as the Green Goblin threw a ball at her that opened up into ninja stars.

"Just don't seem to die, do you, little girl?" Goblin asked mockingly.

"I'm Jack-of-All-Trades, not some little girl." Jackie closed her eyes, and Goblin's glider stopped working, and he plummeted to the ground to his death. Knowing it was too easy, Jackie looked to the ground to see a pumpkin bomb explode in her face, and then she felt nothing as blackness enveloped her.

(A/N: Right about now you wanna kill me, right? I hope not! -shudders-. Those who have seen X-Men 1 should have been able to recognize that the one who called Peter was Professor Xavier!

**Laurajslr: **There are supposed to be a lot questions. -hehehe- I like confusing people. I live off constructive criticism! Never hesitate to tell me it. I'm not that good with feelings (then why am I writing drama? NO CLUE!) and I tend to forget about certain things…like, not remembering to put in the battle that went on in Peter's mind. Because it _was_ a battle. There are a _lot _more cliffhangers…I've prewritten everything up to chapter 15, I think. Lemmie tell ya, it gets _very _interesting! Thanks very much for reviewing!

**Oddball91: **Hello, hello. Thanks much for leaving a review, this time. No, don't pull out your hair! Speaking of hair…I'm dying mine red -big grin-. I like it.

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker: **My thanks to you who has left me such a nice review! I appreciate it bundles! Here's the next chapter!

I'd love you if you reviewed!)


	9. Harry?

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 9:** Harry?

"Do you think she's dead?" a voice asked. It was the voice of a young man.

Jackie was slowly coming to and was catching snippets of conversation.

"No, I saw movement," a second voice said. It was a little voice, like that of a small girl.

Jackie slowly opened her eyes and saw people surrounding her.

"Welcome back to the realm of the living," said the young girl. Jackie couldn't believe it, but she looked like a teenager, though she sounded ten. "I'm Annie. Annie Maijus." She stuck her hand out. She had long, pale blonde curls that accentuated a round, youthful face. She had round, baby blue eyes.

"Jackie Salvani," Jackie introduced, and shook hands with the girl.

"I'm Karen Nightingale," a woman introduced. She looked to be in her late twenties. Fierce green eyes were flashing while thin, blood red lips were in an annoyed pout. Brown hair was up in a messy ponytail.

"Donna Wakanda." Droopy, tired, brown eyes smiled at Jackie. Luxurious black hair hung on Donna's head heavily.

"Inigo Short." The young man had white hair and pale skin. Upon closer inspection, Jackie noticed his eyes were pink.

"Are you all…"

"Mutants? Yeah," Annie finished. "We're from Mutantville," she joked. "That's what we call the suburb we live in. Greg Nowak figured New York's finest could use a bit of help. We were the only ones he could recruit besides Black Cat."

"Is Goblin…" It hurt to speak, Jackie noticed. Hurt to think, too. Her head felt like someone broke a bat over it.

"He's dead. The glider exploded when you blacked out. He would have made it, if he didn't throw that bomb at you," Inigo explained.

Jackie only nodded. And winced when pain made her see spots.

"Can you walk?" Donna inquired.

"No."

The four picked Jackie up by the underarms and hauled her away. Where to? Jackie didn't know, because she passed out, again.

The next morning, Peter made to visit Professor Xavier. He had given him his own apartment, complete with refrigerator and bathroom, but Peter needed to know where Jackie was.

"She is being taken care of," Xavier said the minute Peter opened the office door.

"I'm never going to get used to that, Professor," Peter commented.

He smiled at the youth in front of him. "A great deal of others think along the same lines, though they have known me for a considerably longer time than you have."

"When will Jackie come back?" Peter inquired.

"Within a few days. She will have a couple more recruits with her to bring here from Mutantville, the mutant area in New York."

Peter nodded. The worry he felt couldn't be explained properly. Jackie was the only person he had left now. He hadn't forgotten about MJ and how he was supposed to move in with her yesterday. He figured she hated him, now. His only ally, Virginia 'Jack-of-All-Trades' Salvani, was where he couldn't find her, and he didn't like it. Peter didn't appreciate the confusing things he felt around her, and he couldn't explain them away like the fact that it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would to think about MJ forgetting about him. He shook his head and left the office.

On his way back to his room, he bumped into Scott.

"Hey, Peter. I just got a call from our help in New York. Green Goblin's dead," he informed.

"Harry?" was all he could say. Peter didn't want Harry dead. He was his best friend. His only friend in most cases. Tears welled in Peter's eyes before Scott said anything else.

"He caused it himself. He threw a bomb at Jack when she was in control of his glider. When the bomb went off, she lost control, and the glider exploded."

"How'd she get control of the glider?" _Ask questions, and don't think about_, Peter told himself. _Just don't think about it._

"One of her many trades," Scott said nonchalantly. "I have to go. See you." He turned a corner and Peter was left on his own in the large building. He started to walk around, still not thinking about Harry, with no people around him, until he heard talking from behind a door. He put his ear to the wall to listen.

"Remember what you need for today's experiment; goggles, a clean workspace, a ring-stand, and a sandbox." It was a female voice.

"Miss Monroe, I'm new here," Peter heard a voice say. "Why do we need a whole sandbox?"

Miss Monroe laughed. "A sandbox is what we call a cup of sand. You need it in case of an accident and something catches fire," she explained.

Filled with curiosity, Peter listened further.

Knowing the door was going to open, he stood to the side. Older kids came out of the room and walked across the hall. A woman with shockingly white hair and black skin noticed Peter.

"Hello. Are you a new student?" she asked in a friendly tone.

Peter shook his head. "I'm Peter Parker. I was brought here yesterday by Scott and Logan."

"I see. I'm Ororo Monroe," she introduced.

"Nice to meet you," he said as they shook hands. "Could I watch the experiment? I'm really interested in science," he requested eagerly.

Ororo chuckled. "I bet you know exactly what's going to happen."

"I do, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun watching it."

"Come on," she led.

Jackie took a deep breath and looked at the peaceful park she was sitting in with the people who had been taking care of her. Annie was on the swings with her little brother on her lap, Donna was talking to Karen about the medical field, and how it had come to the point where it can change people's emotions, and Inigo was sitting with Jackie, companionable silence fluttering about their ears. Jackie saw a suspicious movement, and was immediately standing up in a fighting position. She was face-to-face with a woman in a skintight, black outfit that was laced with white fur. A black mask covered half of her face, and long, platinum blonde hair blew with the wind.

"Going to fight me?" she asked. Jackie just narrowed her eyes as she saw the others wave at the woman. "I'm Black Cat. I would be on your side," she explained.

Jackie straightened up and smiled. "Sorry about that. Just a little paranoid after that duel with the Green Goblin," she commented. "I'm Jack-of-All-Trades."

Black Cat nodded. "I've heard of you. Recently, of course, but I have." She looked to the others. "Annie," she smiled. The girl grinned and went up to hug Black Cat.

"I was wondering when you'd come back. After that issue with Wilson Fisk, we were so worried about you," Annie said.

"I'm here, now. And I'm going to take Jack-of-All-Trades to Professor Xavier," Black Cat said.

"You know him? I thought you weren't a mutant?" Inigo asked.

"I was briefed by Greg Nowak. It seems this city has a lot of crime, but none of you can handle traveling without someone else, as you're new to the battle zone. I was told I could bring one of you with me, and the other three would stay and take Spider-Man's place in defending New York."

"When do you want to leave?" Jackie inquired.

"As soon as possible."

"I think I should come with you," Inigo volunteered. His eyes flashed with eagerness.

Black Cat looked hesitant.

"Let him. I know I can fight, here," Donna admitted shyly.

"Yeah, I'd like to help Donna," Annie added.

"I guess I could stand to stay, too," said Karen, a little crestfallen.

"I still don't like it. But you heard them. I'll go get changed into normal clothes, and I suggest you do the same, Jack."

Black Cat was gone a few minutes later.

"Like I have any regular clothes on me," Jackie snapped to no one in particular.

Donna went to her house and brought back a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. Jackie thanked her and changed in the park's port-a-john. When walking back, Jackie noticed that she was tripping on herself a little more than usual. Black Cat pulled up a little later in an old, used car and Jackie and Inigo got in.

"So, Jack, got a real name? Or is it Jacquelyn?" Black Cat asked.

"Everyone calls me Jack or Jackie. I don't like my real name. It just isn't me," Jackie explained, a little shortly. Her seatbelt broke on her and she was trying to fix it, to no avail.

"Let me guess, it's like…Georgina or something like that."

"Something like that," Jackie replied.

"My real name's Felicia," Black Cat relinquished.

"That's a nice name. I'd rather call you that than Black Cat," Inigo said.

"Thank you. Do you have a Mutant name?" Felicia asked him.

"I don't really want one. I've been Inigo since day one and if anyone called me anything different, it's likely I wouldn't respond to them," he admitted.

"I know this is rude of me, but you seem so wise, I was wondering," Jackie started, "How old are you?"

"Wise is a better word instead of older. I'm the same age as Peter Parker. I know you know Peter Parker," she added slyly.

This shocked Jackie. She would have pegged Felicia for at least twenty-five. "How?"

"MJ and I are buds. I happen to be in Connors' class with Peter, so I tell MJ what he's been up to." Jackie cast a guilty look at the ground. "Speaking of MJ…you do know she's pretty broken up about all this," Felicia informed. A snarl formed on her mouth.

Jackie gave a small nod. "I didn't realize this would disrupt more than one life when I volunteered for this job," she admitted. "I guess I deserve whatever is thrown at me. I'm just sorry I got attached."

Felicia's face held a look of confusion. "Attached? To Peter?"

"Yeah. Me and him have been good friends. Shame he probably hates me, now," she said. Then she remembered Spider-Man saying that he didn't hate her. But how could he not? She had ruined his life, or so Jackie thought.

"From what I've heard about Peter, he doesn't. He rarely holds a grudge."

Jackie stayed silent throughout the rest of the trip. Inigo and Felicia talked a lot about different things, but Jackie couldn't bring herself to jump in at any time. She looked out her window as the scenery flew past. Twisting and perplexing thoughts were flying through her head along different threads. She was quite content in her own little world until she felt the car slow down.

"Are we there?" she asked, thinking of secret entrances.

Felicia was looking bothered. "No, and I didn't stop the car. I'm pushing on the gas pedal, but it's still slowing down."

Inigo gave an audible gulp. "You might want to look behind us."

The three turned around and saw an old man in an odd suit and a red helmet. His hand was in the air, much like Jackie's was when she stole the one thief's knife.

"He's pulling the car to him," Jackie explained. "It's Magneto."

(A/N: Okay. Let me warn you now…The next four chapters will _not_ have cliffies. The one after that isn't a major cliffie, and then one after _that_ is so big you'll want to shoot me for being slow with updating…XD

**Laurajslr: **I'm sooo thrilled that you like Jackie! I thought everyone would like hate her or think she was a Mary-Sue or something! =) X-Men 2 should give you pretty good idea, and you should know exactly what's going on when another plot point comes up…:-p ;-) Whether or not I'm a fan of Peter/MJ has absolutely _nothing_ to do with this story…(What fun would it be if I gave it away?) And I can't go with my preference, because Peter and MJ have so much history… Yeah, Harry's an idiot. You can't say he doesn't work insane, though, eh? Thanks for reviewing!

**Oddball91: **Yeah, I told you about the song by Train, Meet Virginia…she's like that, but not…I just got her name from that song and thought it fit a little…XD… Harry's not going to get a chance to get _any_ crazier! And of course MJ wouldn't take it very well! She loves Peter! Here's the next one! =) Thanks for reviewing!

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker: **I warned you about the cliffhangers above…I've made all my main characters dirt poor…:-p Lol! What's going to happen can not even be imagined by someone who's this far into the story! (I should know, cuz I didn't know what was going to happen when I wrote this! LOL!) Thanks for reviewing!****

**Quiet Escapist: **I never pretended to be sane. XD Yeah, you weren't the only person who commented on the quickness with which Peter made his decision…Thinking about re-redoing it…Fifteen is _definitely_ not the end! I'm actually almost finished with 16. XD Thanks for reviewing!****

**DiabloDude1: **Don't worry about not reviewing! It's alright. -HIGH FIVE- There, we high-fived XD. Yay! I'm forgiven! Lol…Here's the next update! Thanks for reviewing!

Reviewing is a common courtesy…Please be courteous and review! I wanna know what goes on inside the readers' minds!)


	10. That Hateful Virus

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 10:** That Hateful Virus

Jackie had heard all about Magneto, but she didn't think she'd ever actually meet him. She, along with the rest of the X-Men, prayed that she never would get the chance.

The car's manual locks went down, and though Jackie and Inigo tried to pull them up, they wouldn't.

"He's trapped us in here," said Inigo.

"Well, we could break the windows and try to run," Felicia suggested.

Then they saw the helicopter. It was parked, and people were coming out of it. A boy, no older than Jackie, had a ball of fire in his hand. He made a show of it by manipulating it into interesting shapes. The message he sent was 'Break the windows and you'll get burned.'

When the car stopped in front of Magneto, the locks came open. Jackie jumped out of the car and tried to send an energy blast at Magneto. Though she missed and jumped wrong so that she twisted her ankle, a large, blonde man with black eyes and sharp teeth grabbed her from behind. "LET GO OF ME!" she shouted.

Magneto smiled. "He will, if you promise not to try that stunt, again," he said.

Jackie glared at him. Inigo and Felicia just stood there. "I won't do that, again," Jackie promised. She had better things in mind. The big man dropped her to the ground. _MY ANKLE!_ her mind screamed. _JUST MY LUCK TO LAND ON MY ANKLE! _"What do you want with us?" she asked tensely.

"Well, you know of the events happening in New York at this moment. We need mutants who are 'registered' to do what we need."

"I'm not a mutant," Felicia spoke up.

"And I'm not 'registered'," Jackie added.

"But he is." Magneto indicated Inigo.

"What makes you think I'd want to help you?"

Peter enjoyed working with the kids. It took his mind off things. When the class was dismissed, all the X-Men were called to a meeting. Storm told him that he could follow her. They all met in a large room that had a big table in the middle. There were numerous chairs. Peter saw Scott, and Logan. There were others he didn't recognize.

There was a girl with two gray streaks in her hair, and sitting next to her was a boy her age that looked normal. A man with blue skin sat beside Ororo, and Professor Xavier was at the head. Three seats were empty. One of the seats was next to the blue-skinned man.

"You can sit down, you know," the man said with a thick German accent. "I won't bite." He smiled, and large incisors were made visible.

Peter gulped and looked for a different seat. That's when he noticed the man had a _tail_. He hesitated sitting down. When he noticed that people were looking at _him_ strangely, instead of the blue skinned man, Peter sat down.

"I am Kurt Wagner. They call me Nightcrawler," he introduced.

"Peter Parker." He couldn't bring himself to say he was Spider-Man. Compared to everyone else's second name, Spider-Man now sounded increasingly silly. He resented that he'd changed it from the Human Spider.

"Welcome to the X-Men," Nightcrawler said.

"Thanks."

The seat on the other side of him was empty, too.

"We are waiting for one more," Professor Xavier said to Peter. He nodded back.

"Professor, you know how Dr. McCoy gets. Do you think I should go get him?" Scott volunteered.

"Someone say my name?" said the person who just walked in. Peter's eyes almost popped out of his head. He looked like a blue monkey. He caught Peter looking at him. "New, huh? I understand. You'll see a lot more people who look more unusual than me, trust me," he said as he sat next to him. "Dr. Hank McCoy, or the Beast. Whichever you prefer," he said as he shook Peter's hand.

"Peter Parker."

"Don't have a second name, yet?" Dr. McCoy asked.

Peter gulped. It was now, or never. "It's Spider-Man," he admitted, feeling the blood rush to his face in embarrassment.

"I wonder how you managed that," the Beast said aloud. He thought the boy had powers like a spider, and he didn't know how he got them.

"I was bitten by a genetically altered spider."

"Then you're not a mutant?"

Peter shook his head.

"That makes all the sense in the world," Dr. McCoy said with sudden understanding.

"We have just gotten word that Magneto is at it, again," Xavier explained. "And he's got more _fire_ power than before." He cast a meaningful look at the girl and boy. "But we all don't know each other, yet. I think it would be wise if we went around, saying our names. I'm Professor Xavier."

"Scott."

"Ororo."

"Rogue."

"Bobby."

"Wolverine."

"Nightcrawler."

"Peter."

"Dr. McCoy."

"Alright then. The empty seat is for Jack, when she gets back. When she gets back is the issue at hand, right now," said the professor. "Magneto has captured her, a mutant named Inigo Short, and a woman who got her powers by accident, like Peter. Her name is Felicia Hardy."

At this, Peter choked on a lump in his throat. Felicia was captured? And so was Jackie? Peter thought he'd heard the last of the Black Cat after he got her imprisoned. _Apparently, they let her out. And now some creep named Magneto's got them? Great._

They discussed plans on how to get the three back to safety. It wasn't going to be easy, as Professor Xavier explained that they were held hostage at a place that would be hazardous to get in.

Peter was told about everything that happened in the last year or so, and found that these people led hard lives, especially Scott and the girl who called herself Rogue. He didn't envy her power at all. He also didn't know what he'd do with himself if MJ died. He took a deep breath and listened with all he was worth.

After the meeting, he walked out, and almost walked into a girl who looked about seventeen. She has Asian eyes and straight, black hair. He then heard a voice in his head.

_Hello_, it greeted.

_Who are you?_ Peter asked.

_My name is __Kiyoshi_, she introduced.

Peter thought it odd that this girl Kiyoshi was conversing with her mind instead of her mouth.

_It is because I am mute, and I never could understand sign language,_ she explained.

_Do you like this school_? Peter inquired.

Kiyoshi smiled a large grin. _Oh yes! It is a very good school with caring teachers! Miss Monroe is one of the nicest and kindest people here!_ she gushed. Then she stopped, and looked Peter directly in the eyes.

_You poor man. You are infected with the hateful virus,_ she said.

He looked at her questioningly.

_That hateful virus called love._

_It's not that bad…_Peter trailed off, thinking of MJ.

_It is when you are so sure of your love for someone, but then it stabs you in the back. And then when you realize you love a different person, it is too late, and they will not forgive you. Yes, you are truly afflicted._ _I must go. I have another class. Nice to meet you, Spider-Man._

She walked away briskly, not looking back, and leaving Peter in a state of confusion. It then dawned on him that that girl couldn't possibly know what she was talking about. She looked much younger than him, what did she know? Peter, strengthened with resolve, turned and made his way to his apartment, where he was planning on writing a letter to MJ, explaining his disappearance.

"So, basically, they're going to kill us the first time you don't cooperate," Felicia said. Jackie couldn't keep still from fear. Her leg was moving up and down in a very fast fashion, and her eyes never rested on the same spot for more than thirty seconds.

Inigo, crestfallen and defeated, replied, "Yeah." He sat down on one of the chairs they provided. The three were given a nice room, but two of the beds were easy to move, or remove, in case of the other two becoming worthless.

(A/N: Guess what, guys? I COMPLETELY FINISHED IT!!! It's all done and ready to go…all nineteen chapters of it! Yay!!! Here I go work on the sequel…:-D

**Taco eating person: **What does my story remind you of? I'm not very good at filling the blank, sorry. Ummm…thanks for reviewing and I'm glad you like this story.

**Laurajslr: **I love cliffhangers…they are so fun!The trouble is that you get addicted to writing them…There will be a kind of cliffhanger that won't end the chapter soon. I think it's next chapter…11. But it doesn't end the chapter. Thank you for reviewing and you're welcome for the updating thing! I can't wait to get this all out!!! Hehehe I'm infuriating…hahahaha…poor you! Lol!

**Oddball91: **I talked to you online about everything mostly…I told you about Inigo…He's funny, but annoying, you'll see. Thanks for reviewing!

**DiabloDude1: **I meant about the story…jeez, I don't want to know _everything_ that goes on the readers' minds! -shudders- I wasn't planning on having MJ-angst, but I wrote a bit in later cuz you asked…and it's more mystery than angst, but you can see how she's feeling for a bit. =) No! Don't 'serverly jurt' my story! Lol! hahaha. Tell me how the village went! I wanna see it so bad! Thanks for reviewing!

So…what d'you think? I wanna know so please review!!!)


	11. Filled With Needless Pain

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 11:** Filled with Needless Pain

Peter was wondering the halls again. He let his emotions out in private for Harry, and was feeling a bit better for it. He yawned when he looked at his watch to see the time was ten thirty at night. He was getting used to the large building. Scott had told him that it was actually a relatively new location for the school, as a while ago, the wrong person found the school, and had it raided. Peter liked looking at the technology. Ororo had him working with the kids in science along with her, to keep him busy. It had been four days, but it felt like four years.

Every moment Peter was away from home was like another shallow scratch on his already battered heart; not deep enough to maim, but still stung dreadfully. MJ had wrote him back the second day he was gone explaining the phone call from Jackie. Peter noticed that MJ tried very hard not to make it sound as if Jackie had said anything wrong, but every once and a while, there were insults that were marked over that weren't meant to be read. When they exchanged letters again, Mary Jane told Peter that she doubted he'd come back. His pain increased to an almost unbearable measure. She broke off the engagement and mailed the ring back to Peter. That day, he didn't help with anything. He stayed in his room, deep in sorrow.

"What are we going to do?" Jackie asked.

"If you ask that one more time, Jack, so help me, God," Inigo spat. The two had become friends before they were captured, but the saying went 'familiarity breeds contempt,' and they had gotten more familiar in the small room than either ever wanted.

"Is there anything you can do to this room, Jack?" Felicia questioned, stopping the dispute before it started.

Jackie scanned the room. "I could possibly walk through the walls, but there would be too many ifs. Where does this wall lead? Could I take you both with me?" she wondered aloud.

"Take me through the wall, I'll find a way out," Inigo offered.

"You'll be caught," Jackie retorted.

Inigo sent her a deadly glare. And then he was gone.

Jackie's and Felicia's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Inigo?" Felicia asked hesitantly.

"I'm still here," a disembodied voice said.

"Where are you?" she inquired.

"Same place."

"So that's your power," mused Jackie. "You can turn invisible."

"Yeah. Not nearly as creative as Felicia's power, but hey, it could help," Inigo said lightly.

"It'll be dangerous," Jackie explained. "You could be killed."

At this, a laugh resounded throughout the room. It took a minute for Jackie to realize that it had come from Inigo. "They wouldn't kill me! They need me. If they kill me, then they'd have to start over. I didn't tell them my power, so they have no idea how I'm a mutant."

"But you're registered," Felicia argued. "The government knows your power. It would be so easy to get the information from them."

"They'd have to see me to catch me." There was a confidence and playfulness in his voice now. Jackie only hoped that it wouldn't make him less alert.

"Be prepared, Short. You die, and you sign our death warrants," she warned.

"Me? You'll be in worse trouble if they see you," Inigo retorted.

"You forget who you're talking to," said Jackie. She concentrated, and she, too, was invisible. "Let's go," she said, and Felicia felt a breeze as if someone were passing her.

Jackie grabbed Inigo's hand roughly before sticking her hand through the wall. As all of her became consumed, she dragged Inigo. They walked out of the other side and immediately tripped on hat racks. They looked around. Lining the outside wall of their room was a whole lot of hat racks. When the ones they tripped over fell and hit the ground, a buzzer sounded off and the two invisible youths found themselves staring down the barrels of dozens of floating guns.

They had left her alone in the room. Not exactly her favorite pastime, but Felicia Hardy knew the difference between wants and needs. She needed to stay there for her own safety, but she'd be damned if she'd do this every time. She almost started counting the cracks in the wall before she heard guns cocking, almost as one. Instantly alert, she went to the wall Jackie and Inigo left out of. She pressed her ear against it, hoping her feline hearing would pick up something. All was silent. Then a sound so loud it knocked Felicia back from the wall exploded, and she screamed as she saw outward dents in the wall where bullets hit the wall. Her breathing became labored as she noticed the faint outline of two bodies among the dents.

"Peter?" a voice called softly. "Peter…" He was dreaming. MJ had been killed and was now an angel, telling him to move on. In the background was a blurred vision of a girl. "She is just beyond your reach," angel-MJ said. "Save her, and it will all work out for the best."

"What if she doesn't need saving?" he asked.

"We all need saving. Each and every one of us. Even you." With that, the angel-MJ floated away, leaving Peter in front of the girl who's features weren't clear.

As he started out of the dream, he heard a furious yell that was unintelligible. After a few more minutes, there was a knock at Peter's bedroom door. He grabbed and put on one of his shirts and opened his door. "What's going on?" he asked when he saw Scott standing there.

"We have a letter from Magneto. Xavier is going to read it to us all right now. It contains news about Jack, Inigo Short, and Felicia Hardy. Come on," he led. Peter, feeling a sickening sensation in his stomach, swallowed and followed Scott to the X-Men room. A sense of foreboding, coupled with a complete sense of dread, overtook him more each step he walked.

Peter sat down in the seat that was allotted to him the minute he sat in it for the first time. He looked around the table. Some looked worried; some bored; more than a few were tired.

"I want to thank you for joining us on such short notice. I understand it is three in the morning, but this letter is of most importance," Professor Xavier started. He took out the piece of paper and paused while Wolverine let out a growl. "Dear Charles, it seems that we have been thwarted. Not because of your meddling, but because of the foolishness of a certain girl who believed she could just walk through walls and get away. I've sent you this letter to tell you that that girl, along with our ace in the hole, is decaying in one of our hallways as we speak. There is one other reason for this correspondence. If you send us a mutant from the registered area, we will return Miss Hardy, who has had a terrible shock. You wouldn't want anyone else to die, would you, Charles? I didn't think so. You can find me through Sabertooth or through John. If I do not get the registered mutant within the next forty-eight hours, not only will Miss Hardy meet with her friends, Virginia Salvani and Inigo Short, in the afterlife, but so will _your_ ace in the hole. There is a link between Miss Hardy and your secret weapon, and that link will terminate when one dies, and the other will die, as well. I'm sorry to disrupt your slumber, but you would do well to read this as soon as humanly possible. Sincerely Eric Lensherr."

Peter's mind was slow in processing that information. When it did, he received a nasty shock. _Jackie's dead?_ A terrible grief set in, as it had in his dream when he realized that Mary Jane was dead. She wasn't, he knew, but now Jackie really was…He couldn't take it. He felt like screaming; like breaking everything in sight. These people were causing him a lot of needless pain. Then he thought about it. His entire life was _filled_ with needless pain.

"What does he mean by our ace in the hole, Professor?" Bobby asked.

"I should start from the very beginning," Xavier said. "There is a file with all the cases of mutant crime, and it is held in New York. A man by the name of Joseph Robertson is holding them because he knows mutants aren't all bad. He gained them a long time ago, before mutants were noticed. If these cases get out, it could mean the exposure of the school, and it could turn into another Holocaust." Xavier paused to take a breath. "Our _ace in the hole_, as Magneto mentioned, is the only person who can easily access this files, and even permanently obtain them from this man. And here we are, at a loss because Magneto can always get more registered mutants to cooperate in his plans, yet we only have one man who can help us reach our goal." He looked at Peter. "You know him personally, and he looks up to you as Spider-Man. You can get those files."

The angry look on Peter's face let the entire world what he thought of the letter. "Professor," he spoke up. "I was told I had to get out of New York because of those machines Quest Aerospace built. How can I just go back in when they're patrolling for mutant DNA?" he asked with the attitude of an angsty teen.

"An insider at Quest Aerospace lowered the standards of what they call 'mutant DNA.' You obviously don't have as odd a signature as, say, Kurt, or Scott. The machines won't notice you, now," Xavier explained calmly.

Refusing to do it would be in vain, Peter knew. All of them would be able to _make_ him get those papers, whether it was Rogue with her odd gift of stealing others' powers, or Wolverine, whose steel claws could tear him to shreds. "When do I go?" he forced himself to say.

"As soon as we can get a volunteer from Mutantville to come back with you."

(A/N: -sigh- I need a tissue…-goes to grab one and then blows nose- I'm sorry. I truly am. Trust me when I say that everything's going to be all right, and keep reading. I wanna thank all my reviewers for their…well…reviews! Lol!

**Taco eating person: **I actually wasn't going to see any movie for awhile…I really leave my rock to go outside. I'm glad you liked the last chapter. Thank you for reviewing…not matter how…strange…the review was.

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker: **Here's the next chapter. Thanks for reviewing!

**Laurajslr: **Thank you very much for reviewing! Please don't kill me. Trust me, and keep reading. When the next chapter comes, read it, and if you still want to kill me…-sigh-

**DiableDude1: **I think you need to run your review through spell checker before you send it! Lol! I don't really wanna hear more…I'm gonna wait until it comes out on video, and then I'll rent it or something…

**Oddball91: **Glad you like Kiyoshi. If you look her name up, you'll find out that I didn't just pick it out of thin air…;-)

**Michael Ross: **I'm thrilled that you like it. I understand most of what you're saying. Care to elaborate on _when_ I stick to the same sentence opener? Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you got this far!


	12. An Aging Yellow Folder

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 12:** An Aging Yellow Folder

The cool night air normally would have felt refreshing to the mutants known as Jack-of-all-Trades, and Inigo Short. Now it just gave them the chills. The large moon was like a spotlight, shining on them, trying to let the Brotherhood know that they escaped. Though they were still invisible, they were badly bruised. Jackie had used a thick barrier to stop the bullets, but it didn't form quick enough, and the two got a beating. Jackie knew not to complain, as she understood that they had come very close to dying.

Inigo, on the other hand, saw fit to point out how _makeshift_ Jackie's force-field was. She was very close to decking him when sirens sounded off. Instead of punching him, as she would have liked, she grabbed his hand and started levitating.

"Is there any way we can make this a bit more comfortable?" Inigo inquired.

"You could hold onto me," Jackie spat, wanting to smack some sense into him.

Inigo nodded and wrapped his arms around her. Jackie found that she was now able to 'fly' a lot faster. They zipped through the sunrise with remarkable speed.

"Are you sure you're okay, MJ?" her friend Louise asked.

"Perfectly fine," she lied. MJ prided herself in being a good liar. Unfortunately, others knew she was a good liar, too.

"Right," Louise snorted. "Where's Peter been? I haven't seen him around."

Fury bubbled before MJ could stop it. "I don't know," she snapped.

Though Louise continued to poke, MJ didn't tell her anything about her thoughts on Peter's departure and the tramp that took him away from her.

_How could he just up and leave like that? I love him; he knows that. It's like he just forgot_, she mused sadly. She said goodbye to her friend and started to walk home. She was close to crying. She loved Peter Parker more than she'd ever loved _anyone_. After the fiasco before she found out he was Spider-Man, she vowed she'd never let him toy with her, again. Of course, she didn't expect him to toy with her, again. She knew he didn't mean it, then. But now? She took out a Kleenex from her purse, wiped her eyes, and blew her nose.

She didn't notice the shadows behind her.

Peter had a bag packed and ready to go the next morning. They had contacted a woman named Donna Wakanda who was a wonder at healing. Herself _and_ others. She was in Mutantville, and Peter would meet her at the library that he and Jackie had had their tutoring sessions. He entered Scott's car on the passenger side and held onto his duffel bag. The drive was boringly long, and Peter fell asleep more than once. As they pulled up to the library, Peter saw a woman with tanned skin and a very well built body sitting in an odd position on the library's railings outside.

"Contact us when you have the file," Scott said, giving Peter a walkie-talkie/phone type thing.

"Right." He got out of the car, put the phone-thing in his pocket, and Scott sped away.

"Peter Parker?" the woman asked as she walked up to him. She looked at least twenty-eight.

"That's me. Donna Wakanda?"

"Correct. Do I have to know anything about what I'm doing?" she inquired curiously.

Peter became very awkward. _Does she know that she's about to put her very life on the line?_ he mused. He thought for a moment. "Listen to them is all I can come up with." He choked on what he was going to say next. He couldn't mention to her that that was how they lost the first one.

Donna swallowed. "I knew Inigo. He was a nice guy. A little whiny, but otherwise perfectly charming, and he never abused his gift. I'm looking forward to avenging him." The quiet strength and determination shocked Peter. "I'm going to listen to those monsters for all of three days. Then I'm going to leave."

"You do realize that one of the X-Men's most powerful mutants is dead?" Peter asked painfully. It hurt to mention Jackie so generally, and in such a detached manner, but Donna needed to know that if _Jackie_ couldn't succeed in getting out of there, neither could she.

Donna nodded. "I've got to do something, though. This can't go on. Picking people out of their lives for an evil plot…" She snorted to show what she thought of that.

"Well, I take it I'm staying with you until I can get something else, and then I'll call the X-Men and we'll leave. Tell me your address, and I'll be there the minute I've got what else I came for," Peter explained.

Donna agreed and told him her address. She lived relatively close to Jackie's old house. Peter got the feeling that some higher power wanted him to keep on remembering the girl who was his only friend in some cases. Donna went home, and Peter found his old apartment building. Mr. Ditkovitch was _not_ pleased to see him back. Peter hadn't paid his rent, knowing he was moving in with Mary Jane, or realizing that he was never coming back around here period, and Mr. Ditkovitch didn't get his money.

"PARKER!" he screamed.

"Sorry, Mr. Ditkovitch. I'm just getting my stuff and then I'm leaving," Peter explained as fast as possible.

"Damn straight you're leaving! Get all your shit out of here because I'm evicting you!" he yelled.

"Perfectly understandable," Peter responded.

This only seemed to make the mad man more furious. "I WANT MY MONEY!"

"I don't have any!" Peter called back as he packed things from his room. He took his spare Spidey suit, and some of his normal clothes. As he cleared out of the apartment building for the last time, he could still hear Ditkovitch raging about his lost cash.

He found an empty alley and changed into Spider-Man. He carried his bag on his back as he made his way to the Daily Bugle. He walked in normally, as if he weren't in his get-up. He walked straight up to Betty Brant, a known ally to Peter Parker, and asked if he could speak to Joe "Robbie" Robertson…alone.

Miss Brant, confused out of her mind, consented and asked him to wait in Mr. Robertson's office. "Mr. Robertson?" she said into the phone. "You have a visitor waiting in your office," she informed.

"Who is it?" he responded.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She shook her head and hung up the phone.

Spider-Man waited in the small room. As Robbie entered, his eyes became owlish. "Spider-Man?"

"In the flesh," he responded. "I'm here to ask you for a certain file you hold."

"The one on mutants." It wasn't a question, and Robbie took out a key and opened a file drawer. "I haven't opened this drawer in years," he remarked casually. He took out an aging yellow folder. "I'm not going to get this back, am I?" he asked.

"No. It needs to be destroyed, but before it will be, a man by the name of Professor Xavier needs to see it," Spider-Man explained.

Robbie nodded and handed him the folder. "Where have you been? For the past few days there have been others stopping crime. No one has seen you; Parker didn't even come in with pictures."

"I've become part of something much bigger than stopping crime here. Thank you for this, Mr. Robertson. It'll be put to good use." Spider-Man opened the window and lunged out.

A few minutes later, a raging J. Jonah Jameson stormed into Robbie's office, demanding to know why he'd had contact with the fleeting vigilante.

(A/N: Alrighty then! Everything's beta'd and fixed, so how fast I update is up to you!

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker**: You have cartoon crushes, too? Lol! Actually, mine are just general Character Crushes. Odd, isn't it? How guys in stories always seem…I don't know…more likeable than in real life? lol! [I'm just spouting off hot air cuz I found my One…, and he's not a character! He's real! LOL!!] Peter might end up happy…sooner or later…I'm glad you like this. Thanks for reviewing…XD

**DiabloDude1**: You're nice! Laughing at Jackie's death! That randomness was fun…hehehe…I'm updating. The faster you review now, the faster I update…it's all waiting to be read on my PC…Thanks for reading and reviewing!!

**Laurajslr**: See, what did I tell you? Nothing to be worried about. Your assumptions were correct at this point…(but that doesn't mean they could be wrong later…:-p)… I'm thrilled you like it!! Thanks for reviewing and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! :-D

Could you please review? For me? Please?)


	13. Turning Against Him

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 13:** Turning Against Him

As Spider-Man web-swung to Donna's house, he saw a very pretty familiar face. _MJ,_ he thought. He put the file in his bag, and swung down to see her. Her eyes were bloodshot; her cheeks hollow, as if she hadn't been eating. Her hair was unkempt and she stared at him as if he were a ghost.

"What do _you_ want?" she asked.

"Talk to me?" he inquired softly. He took a step closer.

It took a moment, but then something clicked, and anger flared up in her eyes. "Not on your life!" she growled, shoved him backwards, and then started to scream bloody murder. "HELP ME! HELP! SPIDER-MAN'S TRYING TO RAPE ME!"

Stunned by disbelief, he stood there, not moving. It wasn't until he saw people gathering did he swing out of the area. He didn't see MJ walk backwards into the street, not paying attention to where she was going with a horrified look on her face.

He heard a gunshot nearby, and went to investigate. As he got closer, he noticed a woman and a tiger closing in on a bank robber. Confusion abounded in his mind, and he webbed up the robber from his vantage point. He almost let go of the wall in astonishment when the tiger turned human. She looked no older than 17 with her blonde curls and large, blue eyes.

"Spider-Man!" she called.

He walked slowly over to them. "Hi there. I'm guessing you've been doing these kinds of things since I've been gone?" he asked.

The woman tossed her layered, brown hair back and nodded. "I'm Nightingale. This is Annie," she introduced.

"Mutants?"

Annie nodded enthusiastically. "We've been doing your job for you. We hope we're doing it right," she gushed.

Spider-Man would have laughed a bit at her enthusiasm, but didn't find himself in the mood to laugh at all. "Since I haven't seen tabloids with headlines like 'Crime up 75%', you're obviously doing something right," he assured.

Annie flashed a large smile, but Nightingale looked a bit perturbed. "Why are you here, anyway?" she asked curtly.

"I came back to do some unfinished business. Now that it's done, I can go back—"

"I meant 'Why are you taking Donna with you?'" she rephrased snidely.

"Donna's been chosen, like me, to be a part of something bigger than this city and its people." He carefully evaded that question. Unfortunately, Nightingale saw right through it.

"You're taking her to her death, aren't you, you bastard?" she snarled. She went to take a swipe at him, but Spider-Man was faster. He quickly webbed her wrists together and held them in one hand.

"What she's doing is of her own accord. It's not my fault she was chosen to leave. She knows the risks, and looks forward to them," he explained while Nightingale fought against his immense strength.

"Let go of me!"

"I will, if you swear that you won't try to fight me. I'm on the same side as you," he reminded.

"Fine," she spat. "I _promise_."

Spider-Man let go of her wrists and ripped the webbing in one swift motion. Nightingale looked at the web still on her wrists.

"You're a freak," she sneered. Her face held a look of disgust as she shed the webbing from her hands.

"Not any more so than you, I imagine," he quipped.

"I don't make…animal excrements come out of my body like that."

"I'm sure you're power is something equally disgusting to someone else."

She glared at him.

"Karen! Leave him alone. It's Spider-Man, for crying out loud," Annie spoke up.

"Thanks, Annie. I can take care of myself, though. I hope I see you some time in the future. _Both_ of you; especially you, Nightingale, being as charming as you are." He chuckled softly as he swung away.

He found Donna's address easily enough, having been in the area twice before. He found that the more times he went in, the easier it was to navigate around the puzzling area. He knocked on the door and was let in.

The first thing Peter noticed was that the house was very neat. The chairs and couches had plastic coverings on them and everything was immaculate. "Used to having visitors?" he asked her.

She sighed. "Not really," she responded dreamily. "I just like to keep a clean home."

Shrugging, Peter followed her to the guestroom, where he changed back into his normal clothes. It was then that all the occurrences of the day came back to him. His battered heart felt deflated at MJ's reaction to seeing him. He felt as if a dark cloud had come to rest over his head. He'd humored Nightingale's attitude towards him, but that hurt, too. Why was everyone turning against him? He'd done nothing wrong! Mary Jane's actions were just odd and painful. He couldn't think of why she would suddenly reject him. Thinking about it made his head hurt and his eyes tear. _Mary Jane knows that I love her. How could she forget? _he mused depressingly. He cared so much about her it killed him. No one cared about _him_ any more, he thought. He knew someone who _used_ to, but it wouldn't help anything if she was dead.

Jackie and Inigo collapsed on the stairs of Xavier's School at about noon. Jackie couldn't move anymore, or she'd faint. Inigo's arms were killing him from holding on. On the last part of the journey, the two just shut up, knowing that arguing would just get them more exhausted. They took deep breaths, hoping someone would find them and they wouldn't have to knock. They lay there for two hours before Inigo found that he could get up. He pounded on the doors with his body weight, and then heard footsteps approaching.

"Someone's coming," he mumbled.

"Eh," was the only thing Jackie was capable of saying. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she passed out.

The door opened, and Logan saw the two youths. He lifted Jackie and led Inigo to the infirmary.

(A/N: I'm real sorry I haven't been updating in a while, but I started high school Tuesday and it's a BLAST!!! Holy cow I've already got a full blown crush [and going through drama cuz of this other girl], and I'm already beginning to get to know everybody! It's crazy!!! I hope you'll forgive me for this...I'll make it up to you by posting another chapter right after this one.

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker**: It wasn't easy, I can tell you that much! -winks back- Anywayz, glad you liked the last chapter. Sorry for taking so long with this one! Life grabbed me and shoved me into a large high school named Argo without directions on how to get around :-p. Thanks for reviewing, and hope you like the next couple chapters (which are getting posted at the same time!!!)

**DiabloDude1**: Did I tell you this before? Hmmm...Well I'll say it again, anywayz. I LOVE TO HEAR RAMBLING!! It reminds me of what I love to do :-p. Yeah...you reviewing quickly _is_ messy...-sigh- I can't review that fast anyway cuz of life, now. Thanks for reviewing and I hope you like the next couple chapters.

**Oddball91**: (the confused one) Lol! Confused is a good thing. OMG this girl Carolina (freshmen) likes Droubie too!!! It was so funny i think she wanted to get me jealous or something at swim practice but it didnt work and she was all like "Well he likes me, too..." and crap. I was just like "Ok...I care why?" LOL!! Sorry about that...You can look Kiyoshi's name up at babynames . com . and type in Kiyoshi. Thanks for reviewing. Hope you enjoy the next couple chapters! LYLAS 4EVR!!! AND EVR EVR EVR until God brings us home! :-D

I'm a people-person. I get to exercise that trait when I get to talk to people because they reviewed my story. Help me exercise my people-person-ness. (lol) and review. Please!!!! -waves good bye-)


	14. Sentiments and Stubbed Toes

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 14:** Sentiments and Stubbed Toes

Peter let Donna have until the next morning before he called the X-Men with news of the folder. Concocting an excuse as to why it took him so long to get it, he told Scott to come get them.

"We'll be there very soon. There's also someone here who wants to talk to you before she's sent somewhere else, again," he replied.

Peter, very confused, waited silently.

"Pete?" a familiar voice asked.

"Jackie!"

"Oh, my God, Peter! You're okay!" Jackie gushed.

"Me? You! I thought you were dead!"

"I almost was! Jeez, be careful when dealing with Magneto. He doesn't underestimate mutant powers; at least not mine, anyway. I miss you! I thought all this time that I sent you to your death and it was bothering me so much. I was annoying Inigo with all the questions about how I could leave that dump! It was so horrible and I missed you so much…" She continued on. Peter sighed in relief while he half listened to her rambling. Listening to her like that was always comforting.

"I'm glad you're all right," he cut off. He could hear the smile in Jackie's voice.

"Me too," she joked. "Hope to see you soon! Scott wants the phone back," she complained.

Peter smirked. "I will see you soon," he promised, and heard Scott tell him to be waiting outside. He hung up and related the message to Donna. Within the hour, to Peter's surprise, Scott pulled up in front of the house.

"How'd you get here so fast?" he asked.

"Jack teleported it. Let's go before she calls the car to Magneto's hiding place and we're not in it," Scott explained.

Peter, elated with the thought of seeing Jackie again, quickly got into the car. Donna was nervous. Anyone would have been able to tell. Her eyes were scared, her hands clenched in fists.

"You'll be all right," Peter assured.

Donna just nodded, guessing, but not really knowing, what lay beyond the drive.

Jackie was still in the infirmary, even though they made her help Scott with getting Peter and Donna. She resented that. She hated the infirmary. The only other time she needed it was when she first tried to control the elements. She sighed as she thought about seeing Peter soon. Scott had allowed Jackie to speak with him on the phone, and she was forever grateful. To hear his voice again gave her enough strength to get through whatever was going on.

Then Jackie remembered the next place they were stopping by. A fear gripped her heart. _Donna_, she thought desperately. She looked at the time. By her calculations, Donna would have been dropped off by Magneto, already. As soon as Inigo woke up, Jackie was going to ask Inigo if he'd accompany her on the rescue mission for Donna. She waited patiently for the albino to stir.

Someone else stirred before him. She was beaten pretty bad. Felicia had taken the punishment without the most silent of protests, though she took grim satisfaction when Pyro's fire took an odd turn a while ago and wouldn't be controlled by him.

She rubbed her eyes and found her muscles aching horribly. She'd been burned by Pyro, and then roughed up by Sabertooth. Magneto had her in chains that enabled her to move a bit, but she was rooted to the spot. She was glad she didn't have a mirror, for she would have been horrified by the bruises that marred her face. She wondered when they'd come with the other registered mutant. She hoped it was soon, but Felicia had learned many things in the insane asylum…one of them being patience. Every move hurt. She noticed she was being watched.

"Why are you in here?" she asked gruffly to Pyro, who was sitting in a comfortable chair, messing with a lighter. There was an end table next to him, and it held a few books and the only source of light, a large, old-fashioned lamp.

"Just making sure you don't have any tricks up your sleeve you could use to escape," he remarked casually, flicking the lighter open and working the flame.

"You don't know my power, do you?" Felicia questioned dangerously.

"I have no idea, but neither does Magneto, which is why I'm stuck babysitting," he replied coolly. He took the top book from small table. The minute he opened it, the light bulb burnt out.

"Damn lamp," he muttered. He tried turning it on and off several times.

Felicia, with her feline vision, watched on with increased interest.

Pyro tried to get up and pick up the lamp, but stubbed his toe on the table. He cursed as he dropped the lamp, which immediately shattered into a million pieces. "Could this day get any worse?" he asked himself.

_Oh yes, it can, jerk_, Felicia mused with a cat-like grin on her lips.

"No…no more…" Inigo muttered in his sleep. He mumbled something about leaving home, and then sat straight up in the bed, breathing heavily.

"You all right, Short?" Jackie asked.

"Sentinels. Attacking. Phoenix. Rising. Destruction…" He trailed off. His eyes were wide and bloodshot. He calmed down after a bit and looked at Jackie. "What are you looking at, Salvani?" he asked.

"A guy who just had one hell of a nightmare," she retorted.

"How do _you _know it was a nightmare?" Inigo spat.

"I don't think people look scared when they're having pleasant dreams."

He snorted and took an apple from his food tray. "When'd breakfast get here?" he inquired when he took a bite out of the apple.

"Actually I think that's yesterday's lunch," Jackie mentioned. Inigo spat out the apple into the napkin.

"I believe it."

"Guess who they picked to replace you at Magneto's," she challenged.

"No idea. You mean they're actually taking someone _else_?"

"Yeah. I heard that Magneto offered a trade. Felicia for Donna."

"WHAT?" Inigo shouted in disbelief. Fury made his eyes appear stormy. "We've got to get her out of there!" he exclaimed.

Jackie smiled an enigmatic grin. "My sentiments, exactly."


	15. Unplugged

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 15:** Unplugged

Scott and Peter found Felicia battered and tired. She was on the side of the road with a note that said to leave Donna there. They complied, and Felicia joined the two men.

"So," Felicia said awkwardly.

"How was prison?" Peter asked.

He was shocked when she laughed. "I didn't go to prison. I went to an insane asylum."

"That's reassuring," he replied.

"They figured I was cured, now," she explained.

"Going to give up your life of crime?"

"How do you know about that?"

"I know Spider-Man very well, and we put the pieces together," Peter lied.

"You can tell her the truth, Peter. Miss Hardy, he _is_ Spider-Man."

"I knew it!" she exclaimed. "I knew MJ was keeping something from me! I asked her how she was going to deal with her crush on Spider-Man when she was going to marry you, and she just gave me one of those sly looks. I knew something like this was up!"

Peter wisely kept quiet. Seeing Jackie was the only thing that kept him sane as Scott told him that they'd have to drive back to the school normally, as Jackie needed her rest. After another boring road trip, Peter practically ran into the building, and into Wolverine.

"Where's Jackie?" Peter asked him breathlessly.

"Six feet under?" Wolverine growled. "I don't know."

"Is this supposed to be some kind of sick joke? I was told that Jackie was alive and well. I talked to her on the phone!"

Noticing that Peter's voice was becoming hysterical, Wolverine put up a hand to quiet him. "Jack _was_ fine when you talked to her. She's gone, now. We can only guess that she, and that other mutant, Short, went to go save Donna."

"You're kidding."

"Sorry, Parker. I wish I was."

"Coast clear," Jackie whispered to Inigo. They had snuck back into Magneto's hiding place. Jackie thought of a power that would make whoever felt the breeze of the two invisible youths fall asleep. So far, they had only passed a few people.

They explored the small warehouse, only to find that Donna wasn't there. Jackie cursed as Inigo tried to smack her, which was difficult because of the invisibility.

"I can't believe this. You've led us on a wild goose chase," Inigo snarled.

"Shut up!" Jackie commanded. She listened intently with the keenest hearing she could imagine.

"Is she on her way?" an elderly voice asked.

"Yeah. It's going according to plan," a younger man responded.

"Excellent. Now, care to tell me what occurred in the room with Miss Hardy?" the first voice inquired curiously.

"I dunno. The light bulb burned out and I stubbed my toe. The table got knocked over…"

"You mean to tell me that you didn't figure it out?" The older man's tone was dry and disbelieving.

"Figure what out?"

"There's a reason Miss Hardy is called Black Cat. She had some dealings with Wilson Fisk, and her powers that came from that include feline agility, heightened senses, eyesight in the dark, and the ability to cause anyone she comes in contact with bad luck."

"That would explain the light bulb…"

"And so many other things."

"This is useless," Jackie muttered. "Let's get out of here. We can only pray we find her somewhere else."

"Yeah…"

The X-Men decided to keep Peter at Headquarters for the time being. There was nothing left to do but wait. The file was destroyed, disaster averted. The only thing left was hoping the Brotherhood didn't kill anyone.

Peter was getting sick of doing nothing. He still had the cell phone type thing Scott had given him before. He discreetly called Aunt May.

"Peter?" was the tired greeting.

"Aunt May. I'm sorry I haven't come to see you recently. I'm on a very important trip…"

"Doctor Connors was over here the other day, looking for you. You've been missing all your classes, Peter. It's not very responsible," she gently scolded.

Peter sighed. "What I'm doing is much more important than school," he explained.

"More important than your family?"

"Of course not, Aunt May. How could you even ask that?"

"Did you know that Harry was murdered? Or that Mary Jane is in the hospital?"

Peter's breath caught in his throat. _MJ_, was the only clear thought.

"I didn't think so. You'd better go see her, soon, Peter. She's been in critical condition for the past few days. She's gotten a bit better, but nothing too hopeful."

"What happened?" he forced himself to ask.

"She was hit by a truck."

Cursing himself to hell and back, he said his goodbyes and hung up. Knowing they wouldn't want him to leave, he snuck to the garage to look for something to use for transportation.

"I'd suggest the motorcycle. The One-Eyed Wonder always leaves his keys in them."

Peter jumped, not paying attention to his spider-sense when someone was coming. "Thanks," he said. Standing there, leaning against the frame, was Wolverine.

"Any time. You might wanna try to bring Jack around while you're traveling the country," he commented.

"I'll try, Mr. Wolverine, sir." The man intimidated Peter something dreadful.

Wolverine smirked. "As amusing as it is that you're so scared of me that you call me 'Mr. Wolverine Sir,' you can just call me Wolverine."

"Right. Bye, Wolverine." Peter got on the motorcycle and turned the key. It growled and sputtered to life. Remembering vaguely how his old bike worked, he sped off, making his way to MJ.

He made it, and walked up to the receptionist in the lobby. "I'm Peter Parker. Can I have the room for Mary Jane Watson?" he asked.

"Room 203. May I ask what your relationship to her is?"

"Fiancé," he said. So the lines might be a bit blurred; the exact word unclear. This receptionist didn't need to know that. He started looking for MJ's room. When he found her, she was sleeping. "Mary Jane," he muttered to himself. She was relying on Life Support with tubes coming out of her arms and nose. Her hair was matted, and her face was as gaunt as the day he bumped into her.

Peter sat down beside her and took her hand in his. He hadn't planned on saying anything, but suddenly, everything he'd been through came out in a rush. He told the truth about everything, and at the end of his monologue, Mary Jane stirred.

"Pete?" she tried to say.

A sad smile crossed his lips. "I'm here, MJ."

"I'm so sorry, Tiger." She paused for a breath. "I didn't mean to say those things. I had no idea what I was doing…" She tried to sit up to embrace him.

"Don't strain yourself, Mary Jane," he stopped, and he bent down to hug her. He felt something weird on the back of her neck. "What is this?" he asked himself.

He heard MJ's gasp that indicated pain. "Sorry. Sorry." He pulled back and moved a strand of hair out of her face.

"It's okay. I've just got some sore back there. I have no idea where it came from…" She trailed off and looked straight into Peter's eyes. "I'm glad you're with me, Pete. I love you, and I never meant to hurt you."

"I didn't mean to hurt you, either, Mary Jane." He placed a soft kiss on her lips. "You'll be all right, I promise."

"I missed you," she said softly.

"I missed you, too."

"Will you leave, again?" she asked, sounding five years old.

"Yes, but only once you're better, and then you're coming with me," he swore. _Damn them all if they disapprove_, he thought. He stayed for a few hours, and then he realized he had to get something to eat. "I'll be right back, MJ. I'm going to get some food."

"Food sounds great…are you getting stuff that didn't come from the hospital?" she asked.

"If that's what you want."

"Definitely. The food here isn't fit to feed stray dogs…"

Peter smiled at MJ's joke and headed out. He found a Chinese food joint, remembering that it was MJ's favorite. He waited impatiently for the order to finish. When it came, he sped back to the hospital. He came back to find police, doctors, and nurses standing outside Mary Jane's door.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Mr. Parker, you're under arrest for the murder of Mary Jane Watson," one of the cops started.

"Officer Gage, you can't be serious? We saw the boy leave. He couldn't have done it. He would've gotten here from the food place as soon as humanly possible, and there still wouldn't have been enough _time_," one of the nurses cut off.

"What's going on?" Peter asked again, angrier.

"Mr. Parker, Mary Jane Watson's Life Support was unplugged," one of the doctors explained.

(A/N: I wanna thank everyone for reviewing. I'd give personal thank yous but I'm just too tired and I hope you accept this as your gratitude. I'm so terribly exhausted! One more thing before I go...whoever is my 60th reviewer gets a chapter dedicated to them and a walk-on role in the sequel! ;-) See you guys later!)


	16. Continuing with the Wild Goose Chase

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 16:** Continuing the Wild Goose Chase

_(A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Mary Jane Watson-Parker, who has won the position of a plot point (more than a walk-on role) for the sequel. Congrats, MJ!)_

Jackie and Inigo teleported to where Jackie thought Donna was. They found her in one of the labs.

"Donna! It's Jackie and Inigo!" Jackie whispered loudly. When she saw no one else was there, she became visible. So did Inigo.

"You shouldn't be here. Dr. Connors will be back soon," Donna responded. She was calm and resolved, and was looking through Connors' files.

"Be worried that he's going to see you," Inigo remarked.

"I'm his assistant, now. The Brotherhood wants me here when Connors tests his work."

"His work?"

"He's trying to make a liquid of some sort that can enable humans to regrow limbs like lizards. He's about ready to test it on himself," Donna explained. "The Brotherhood wanted someone on their side who could observe his test. If it works, Magneto is going to buy all Connors' research."

"But why?"

"Because it's pretty obvious that Connors' work is going to mutate his DNA. Magneto just needs to know if it'll kill someone, and he's willing to wait to see if Connors kills himself."

_This is completely morbid_, Jackie thought.

"So, do you need us to leave you here?" Inigo asked.

Donna nodded. "I may need to be here in case something happens. I would suggest Spider-Man being on hand, too. Some of the things Dr. Connors is working with could cause a lot of trouble."

"Right."

"What a waste of time," Inigo commented. He shook his head dismissively. "Now what, Oh-Mighty-Jack-of-all-Trades?"

"Now we get back to the school," Jackie responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Jackie Salvani?" a voice called.

"_Shit!_" Inigo muttered, as he turned invisible.

"Hello, Dr. Connors," Jackie greeted bashfully.

"What are you doing here, Miss Salvani?"

"I came to…er…speak to my old friend, Donna Wakanda…Which I have…so I'll just be leaving now…" Her face almost the color of a beat, Jackie quickly made her way around the corner before turning invisible. Envisioning having sonar, she found Inigo waiting right outside.

"Smooth," he snapped.

"Like you were smooth getting out of there. It felt like a window was open. Except, wait, there were no windows in that room," Jackie replied sarcastically.

"Shut up, Salvani."

"Only if you do, Short."

"Bite me."

"Refraining comment from that utterly _childish_ taunt…" Jackie grabbed Inigo, none too nicely, and teleported to the school.

Peter was on his way back when he got a call on the phone. "Peter Parker."

"Hey, this is Ororo."

"Hi." He kept his grief in check.

"Stay in New York. We discovered why Magneto needed to have a registered mutant."

Damn! And just when he _needed_ to get away from the place that held all the memories. He was going to resign himself to the life of the X-Men, never come back, and pretend his life before he met Jackie simply _hadn't_ happened. "Why does he?"

"There's a man by the name of Curt Connors who's working on something to do with lizard DNA, and will most likely test it on himself. If it's successful, Magneto's gonna want the formula. So he's made Donna Connors' lab assistant," she explained.

"But why do I need to stay?" Peter asked, suspecting that he sounded very childish.

"This test Dr. Connors wants to do may go horribly wrong. Donna's the most powerful mutant there at the moment, and if she's taken down, you need to be there to take care of things."

"Whatever. I'll do it." He could say nothing else. Ororo said her goodbyes, and Peter just hung up. He couldn't believe them. His love had just been _killed_, how could they expect him to stay around here, where the very buildings haunt him? He called Aunt May and asked if he could stay with her. Having consented, she wished Peter the best of luck.

The only luck Peter was having lately was bad. In fact, the word _luck_ had begun to pale in comparison to the horrible turns Peter's life was taking. He thought he felt grief when he heard that Jackie had died. That was _nothing_. _Absolutely nothing_ compared to what he was feeling now. He wanted to find some niche in a building, crawl up there, and die. He thought his feelings had hit the ultimate low before. It seemed to him that every time he hit one of those lows, he just had to wait, and the bottom would collapse, making him hit _lower_. He felt as if his assaulted heart now had half of its contents ripped out by a rusty hook. He closed his eyes on the road, hoping against hope that his spider-sense wouldn't kick in and direct his driving, and then stop him from riding straight into a semi like a junebug on its grill.

Cursing his senses that worked on their own, he parked the motorcycle in front of Aunt May's apartment building.

"Peter!" she greeted, relieved.

"Hi, Aunt May." He hugged her, and when he took a second look at her, her eyes were red and puffy. "You heard."

She nodded solemnly, and then hugged her nephew again.

Jackie hung her head, acting as though she were ashamed. Logan and Scott were giving it to her from both barrels, but she just soaked it all in.

"Are you even listening to a single word we're saying?!" Scott asked loudly.

"Of course, I'm listening. I know better than that." It was said quietly and without emotion.

"You put both yourself _and_ that mutant who has no idea what he's up against in _serious_ danger!" Scott screamed for the millionth time.

"Not to mention that you two risked exposure!" It was Logan's turn to rant.

Jackie tuned them out like she used to when she was younger. The last time she got this berated was when she was seventeen, she went to a party with normal people, and thought it'd be funny to make all the people think that they're drinks were spiked. All had grand hallucinations with no aftereffects, but Jackie almost got expelled from the school. A small laugh caught in her throat as she remembered that incident, but realized too late that that wasn't the greatest thing to do when she had two, angry, full grown mutant men yelling at her.

"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?!" Logan exploded.

Jackie winced. "I just recalled the last time I had to be shouted at. I didn't mean to laugh…it just sort of happened…"

"I guess that means that any more yelling is only going to cause us to loose our voices, Logan. She's not listening, anymore," Scott commented in a normal manner. His voice had the hoarse tone that meant that he had started to loose it.

"Right." Logan's voice had the same tone. "Jack, you will not be able to leave the area for the next three weeks."

"WHAT?!" Now it was Jackie's turn to explode. "You can't be joking! I did it for Donna's own good! It's not my fault that I didn't know she needed to stay there!"

"Logan, I like that punishment. I think it works. Yeah. It'll stick," Scott replied.

"You can't do this to me! I'm over the legal age to be controlled by _elders_! The both of you need to stop acting like you're my _parents_! You're not!" she raged.

"What's the rule most parents have for their children when they turn eighteen?" Logan asked.

"You live under this roof, you abide by these rules," Scott replied triumphantly.

Jackie deflated like a popped balloon. "Really? All right-y then, that settles it." Her anger was gone; a strange glint in her eyes.

"What does? You're going to comply?" Scott inquired disbelievingly.

"Of course not," Jackie laughed. "I'm simply not going to live under this roof." With that, she was gone.

"That fucking girl," Logan swore.

"You can say that, again."

(A/N: WOOO HOOO !! I'm back and better than ever! WOOOOO HOOO!

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker: **Peter's grief will be dealt with, and I assure you, I do not make light of it. Glad you think the plot's interesting! Hope you got the email, and here's the next chapter!

**Oddball91**: There's a reason, I promise you. I know it was shocking. It was supposed to be. Sorry, try again next time. If you the 60th reviewer for something else, I'll give you something. Thanks for reviewing! Here's more!

**Sma**: I think your review got cut off, so I only got the bit about the Life Support. Sorry but I don't know the first thing about life support, so whatever…I thought it kept your heart beating, not breathed for you. I'm no doctor. Thank you for reviewing. I'm glad you like it. Here's more.

**DiabloDude1**: Oh yes, I am _so_ in love with you :-p (just kidding). I'm glad you liked it, even though your reasons are somewhat morbid. I agree…Peter is poor :-p. Thanks for reviewing, and here's more.

**FieryKitsune**: I know…I feel so sad about doing that to her. Even though I don't like her, I don't think she deserved to die. I'm thrilled you like it, and here's another twist. This one might tick you off cuz its another cliffhanger! :-D ;-)

Hope you like this chapter, all. See you later! -silently fades into the shadows-)


	17. Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.

**Chapter 17:** Dr. Jekyll; Mr. Hyde

Being back in New York, it was only normal that Peter had wanted to get into his Spider-Man costume and web-swing around. As the wind whipped past him, creating a comforting cradle, he let the freedom soak into him like warm water. He wasn't going anywhere in particular, but just swinging with the knowledge that he wouldn't fall. As his muscles tensed and relaxed in the familiar rhythm, Peter felt like he could fall asleep in such a soothing atmosphere. All his thoughts, doubts, and worries whisked away with the nippy wind. Knowing he was taking the best vacation known to man didn't take away from the fact that when he heard sirens, his first instinct was to go see if he could help.

A longsuffering sigh later, he was on his way, following the sirens. There was a car crash, and gas was leaking all over the place; a lurking presence, threatening to light up and explode. He carefully worked around the gas, and peeled the cars open. He gently raised the people involved out of the vehicles.

"Thanks, Spider-Man!" someone called out to him.

"Any time!" he shouted back.

"It's awesome to have you back with us!"

_If only I could stay_, he mused, no longer finding solace in his flight.

Jackie sighed. She had picked the place where the second Cerebro had been built. She didn't know _why_ she chose to carve out her living here, where everything was almost submerged in the freezing cold water, but it called to her. She found a village some ways away, and she figured they could use a waitress…or secretary…or something or other.

The bell on the door rang as Jackie entered the little restaurant.

"Hello. Welcome to the Tip of the Iceberg. May I help you with something?" the hostess asked with a genuine smile.

Jackie stopped herself from laughing at the ridiculous name. "Are you looking to hire?" she inquired.

The hostess's smile got brighter. "Of course. Come with me," she offered. Jackie complied, and found herself face to face with a stern looking secretary.

"Who is this? Is something unsatisfactory?" she asked curtly, not even looking at Jackie.

"No," the hostess assured. "She's looking for a job, Norma."

The secretary then gave Jackie a scrutinizing stare. After a few tense minutes, _Norma_ nodded. "She'll do. Do you know how to cook, miss?" she asked, suddenly giving off a softer tone of voice.

"Barely," Jackie admitted.

Norma nodded and handed her paperwork. "Fill that out and return it within the next twenty-four hours."

Jackie nodded and was led out. It was then she knew to find a place to stay. She still had her X-Phone, so she called the owners of the house that said 'For Cheap Rent'. It was almost as if it were all planned.

A very scared Donna Wakanda tried to deal with an angry Curt Connors. Of course, she could soothe any person's feelings…but lizards? That was just beyond her knowledge. Connors proceeded with his lizard DNA experiment, and was now a live, 7 foot Godzilla. Donna was frightened for her very life, which was something that didn't happen to often.

Half-way across town, Peter felt it. That gnawing feeling that told him that something just _wasn't_ right, yet he couldn't peg it. He patrolled late into the night, but still couldn't find anything wrong. That is, until he heard a growl that sounded suspiciously like a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Spider-Man found him right outside Connors' lab. _Of course…Dr. Connors must have done his experiment…well, it certainly regrew his lost limb… He looks like a giant Lizard._

"Hey! Godzilla! You're in the wrong part of the city, buddy. You want Chinatown." He pointed when he saw he had the Lizard's attention. "That way." Instead of going the way Peter pointed, the Lizard turned the opposite direction and ran with fascinating speed towards a long block of apartment buildings. As Spider-Man raced after him, he noticed an odd, circular scar on the back of Lizard's neck. From what he could remember, it was almost the same scar that had been on the back of MJ's neck. What was that about?

Spider-Man shot webbing at Lizard's legs to tie them up, but Lizard just broke the webbing as though it were fragile. Spider-Man swung and gave him a good kick in the head, only to find that he was held upside down by Lizard. Lizard took a look at him, huffed, and dropped him on the ground. He then continued on his path. As Spider-Man followed him, he noticed that Lizard was going into Aunt May's apartment building. A horrifying thought crossed his mind. _What if he's after Aunt May?_

Donna found a strange liquid with a note that read, 'Use this in the morning.' Donna did some quick thinking. It obviously was an antidote for whatever Connors had taken. Confusion whirled. _How could those chemicals produce that kind of effect?_ she wondered. She rummaged around. She was in a few very old drawers and found a supply of a incredibly odd serum. She read the label and almost dropped it in surprise. The label was written by hand, and read 'Controlling Shots. Put in booster and inject to the back of the neck.' And then a post-it note read, 'Do that, and put 15 milliliters into Connors' research.' Donna looked at it in perplexity. Why hadn't Dr. Connors seen this? Why didn't he see that someone had put a strange substance into his mix? She pocketed the chemicals and left to go find Spider-Man.

Fighting the Lizard was getting tiring. Especially after realizing that he wouldn't fight back, but use every advantage to get higher up in the apartment building. Spider-Man's webs had no use, and he figured this was going on long enough.

"SPIDER-MAN!" he heard someone yell.

"Kinda busy! Trying calling back later!" he responded as he continued to follow Lizard.

"I CAN HELP YOU WITH CONNORS!"

Spider-Man stopped, dead in his tracks. He shrugged his shoulders and figured it couldn't hurt. He found the voice, and saw Donna. "What are you doing here, Donna?"

"I found the antidote. I figured it was the only thing that could stop him," she explained while she handed him the loaded needle.

Spider-Man shuddered. _I hate needles_. "Thanks…"

"I found a whole bunch of other stuff, too, but I'll tell you about it later," Donna promised as a scream from an old woman was heard.

"Aunt May." Without realizing what he was doing, he climbed the side of the building until he got to May Parker's window. He put his fist through the glass and jumped in. Aunt May had fainted, and the Lizard was slowly approaching her.

"Pick on someone your own size!" Spider-Man called. He threw the shot like a spear, and it hit Lizard directly in the forearm.

The Lizard shook his head and growled loudly in pain. Spider-Man watched tensely, hoping he would change back. "Alright, Mr. Hyde, you've had your fun. Let's have Dr. Jekyll back, now…" With great relief, he saw the Lizard shrinking in size. Green scales became peach skin, and yellow eyes became brown.

Dr. Connors looked worn out. He through a tired glance at Spider-Man. "Thank you…"

"No problem. Let's get you and this nice old lady to the hospital," Spider-Man responded.

May Parker came to a few hours later to find herself in the hospital with her nephew beside her.

"Hello, Peter," she greeted.

"Hi, Aunt May. How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Much better," she responded.

"That's great to hear." A small smile found the way to his face.

"Is it just me, or do these strange characters seem to come after me all of the time?"

Peter gulped. "Aunt May, there's something I ought to tell you," he started. He told himself that she needed to know why the villains tried to get to her.

"If it's about Spider-Man, I already know," she stopped with a smile.

"Y-you d-do?" _This is unexpected,_ he thought.

"Of course. Since you take his pictures, all these people think you know where to find him."

Peter almost laughed. "No, Aunt May. It's not like that…"

"You mean you _don't_ take his pictures?"

"I take _my own_ pictures," Peter amended, and he hoped that she would understand.

Then it dawned on her. "I suppose I already knew. I didn't think it was like you to abandon me at that bank. Well, at least I know I can be _very_ proud whenever I see you swing around buildings, can't I?" she joked.

"Yeah." Peter grinned, a burden lifted…for awhile.

Peter had always been a thinker. No matter what was going on, he never failed to think about it thoroughly. That was how he considered his feelings for Jackie. He missed her terribly. Since they'd been separated so suddenly, he couldn't remember her face for the life of him. He could hear her voice, her laugh, and see her eyes, but he couldn't remember her face clearly. Thinking about her brought about the worry that she was hurt, or worse. Peter knew that if she died, all he'd have left was Aunt May, and even then she was holding onto a bare thread. Drowned in musings, an uncomfortable idea came into his head. _What would happen if I tried to love, again?_ Ashamed, he shook that thought out of his head. Immediately after that idea, Jackie's face came swimming back in perfect clarity. _I care about her…but do I care about her like _that He came to the conclusion that he did. The odd feeling in the air he felt after encounters with her left no doubt in his mind. He was falling for Virginia 'Jack-of-all-trades' Salvani, whether he wanted to admit it, or not.

(A/N: Almost finished, guys! It's got 19 chapters and this is seventeen…oh my! I think I'm gonna cry! But don't worry, I'm four chapters into the sequel!! Yay! XD

**Oddball91: **I won't do that to you ever again. I'll let you read the whole thing on your own! I promise! You rock! Hope you got the email!

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker: **Thank you for reviewing and cooperating with your prize! :-D Everything _will_ be changed in awhile…Here's more!

**DiabloDude1: **Yeah…I did. Or did I? You never kno! I understand you perfectly. I wrote MJ well. Sad, isn't it? I thought I'd write her badly. (in fact, I _wanted_ to write her badly…) :-p How old are you? Thanks bunches for reviewing! Here's more!

Thank you all for reviewing!!!! I love you all!


	18. The Greatest Plan Ever Concocted

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.****

**Chapter 18: **The Greatest Plan Ever Concocted

Jackie was downright amazed. She settled down remarkably quick in the three-hundred population town. The people even took to her swiftly. She felt like she'd been there from the very beginning. It was her third day, and she'd already been invited to meals four times; two dinners and two lunches. She couldn't shake the feeling that someone, or something, wanted her to stay there.

She was out grocery shopping when she noticed a girl her own age that was very odd-looking. Jackie, who could never be called shy when she was being herself, said, "I like your hair!" to the girl.

It almost looked pale blonde, but in the light it gave off an iridescence that normal hair just didn't do. It glowed with the pearlescent colors; green, purple, red, orange, blue and yellow. Jackie liked it very much.

The girl came over to talk to her. She had a sweet smile on her face. "I'm Candace," she introduced in a soft, cultured voice.

"I'm Jackie."

"Welcome to Iceberg," Candace said.

"Thanks. Everyone around here is so inviting. How'd you get your hair like that? It's obviously not natural."

Then Candace's voice changed, and it now had a Brooklyn accent. "I knew a bit about chemicals, ya know? So I found the right junk to make my hair look different from everybody else's."

"Fascinating. How'd you think it'd look on me?" Jackie inquired, grinning.

Candace shook her head. "It only works wiz light hair. It would make your hair look really greasy." Now her voice had a French accent.

"Why do you keep changing your voice?"

"Habit." It was back to soft and cultured.

"What's your normal accent?"

The two girls continued talking while Jackie got the rest of her groceries. Jackie invited Candace back to her home.

"You're renting out the old Bilge place?" Candace asked.

"I guess… I didn't know it was called that…Where do you go to school, again?" It was a complete change of subject, yes, because Jackie didn't like thinking about who was in the house before she was. It felt like it was _hers_, and no one else's.

"I don't. I graduated college, already," Candace replied, sounding bored.

"How old are you?"

"Nineteen. You?"

"I'm almost nineteen…" Candace didn't look a bit astonished. Jackie, on the other hand, couldn't even think of finishing college before her nineteenth birthday. Soon, the girls were in each other's confidences.

"Yeah…you know all the mutant stuff going on, right?" Candace asked. "It's all a bunch of bull. They should just leave u--them alone. They're people, too."

"I know. It's ridiculous. It's like, what did w--they ever do to them?" Jackie responded vehemently.

Candace, being amazingly intelligent, caught that Jackie almost made the same mistake she did. "Mutant?"

Jackie looked at her for a moment. Unless she was mistaken, Candace was about to let the same thing slip as Jackie was. "Yeah. You?"

Candace nodded. "I've got three powers, but some people say my intellect is a fourth. I don't think so."

"Me neither. You're not born with intelligence." An old wound burned. Jackie's parents weren't very smart. She closed her eyes and willed the memory away.

"Exactly. Except, maybe I wouldn't be so _boring_ if it was my fourth power," Candace admitted.

"You? Boring? Never," Jackie contradicted. She looked at Candace's baggy, black pants that had fiber-optic straps hanging off them, and then looked at her homemade shirt. It was really dense fishnet except for around her chest, there it was black fabric, exclaiming 'It's All about Power, and Taking Control.' On the back, it read, 'Breaking the Will, and Raping the Soul. They Suck Us Dry Til There's Nothin' Left. We Are Responsible!' as the entire back was fabric, not fishnet. When she got to her eyes, Jackie admitted that they were the most unusual part about the girl sitting before her. Her eyes were golden yellow, and looked a lot like a cat's.__

"My looks are exceptionally strange because of everything else that's boring. Eyes; contacts. Hair; special formula.

"My powers are what everyone else has. Invisibility, flight, and teleportation. They're so normal it's tedious," Candace snapped. "That's where they got my mutant name, you know? Triotrite. Trio, for three, Trite because my powers are boring."

"Triotrite. I like it, though. It sounds cool. Definitely _not_ normal," Jackie comforted.

Candace snorted. "Oh, well. After my family's mission is finished, I don't have to be a mutant anymore."

"What?"

Candace looked around and bit her lip. "Wanna join us? After we're done, I've created this serum that'll take away mutation."

"What are you doing?" Jackie asked, and wished she had Peter's spider-sense. Suddenly she felt a tingling in the back of her neck.

"Well, first, we're trying to get all the powerful mutants _out_ of New York. Spider-Man, Black Cat, Daredevil, those guys, too, even though they're not mutants. But we found out who is who, and we don't want to _kill _them. So we had to find indirect ways to get them out of there. Black Cat was easy. Daredevil is being taken care of. But the hardest has been Spider-Man."

"Why do you need to get them out of there?"

"Because we're doing something that they would be able to stop, if they were there. They _can't_ stop it, or it'll all be ruined. You see, if I tell you everything, you've got to swear that you're going to help us. Because, once you know, you're going to want my serum to take away your powers." Candace kept looking around to make sure no one was listening.

"All right," Jackie agreed.

"A mutant died a year or two ago. I can't remember when. Her name was Jean Grey, and she was telekinetic. There are legends about a telekinetic rising from the dead, and whoever raises her will be able to control her. My family is trying to resurrect her, and then cause great destruction in New York," she explained.

Jackie remembered Jean Grey. She was her personal mentor on her powers until that day at the second Cerebro. She sharply inhaled. "Why?"

"To let the world know that mutants are horrible. And almost all of them are. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Jackie could only nod. Then everything slid into place. "And once everything's done, you can take your serum and say you had nothing to do with it, and live out the rest of your life, while you gave the rest of the mutants in the world hell."

"Exactly."

Jackie's head spun, but she hid her feelings of disgust. "Why has Spider-Man been the hardest to get out of New York?"

"Because he has so many ties to sever. My family knows he can't completely stay away because of all the people he cares for, among them, his aunt, and his fiancé. If we sever those ties _for_ him, he'd get over his heartache and stay with the X-Men. We tried making his fiancé hate him, but that didn't work, he still came back. We figured then that we had to do things the hard way."

Jackie nodded slowly, and then tried to see where MJ was, now, with her mind. She almost retched when she saw her dead body in a box, six feet under. _They killed MJ_. Jackie couldn't believe it. She was suddenly terrified of the weird girl sitting before her. Who wouldn't be if they found out that this girl was killing, and looking _smug_ about it?

"Isn't it the greatest plan ever concocted?" Candace asked, a sick smile on her face and an evil glint in her eyes.

(A/N: Almost finished! :'(

**DiabloDude1: **Did you just figure out that I was strange? Lol! I do have yahoo I/M but I rarely go on it. libraliz -at- sbcglobal. net(that's my ID…I kno it looks like an email address, but my parents set it up and they don't kno the first thing about computers…:-p) I think that's really cool that u have a twin sister! I want a twin! Would you mind if I asked to see what you come up with with the 'what if's'? Cuz that seems really interesting. I love listening to rambling! It's the best! Thanks bunches for reviewing, and here's the next chapter! Only one more left!!!

You should review. Why? Because I'm going to ask nicely. Can you pretty please review my story?)


	19. Ripples

**Severing Ties**

**Summary: **Things are looking up for Peter. It had been a few months since Doctor Octavius passed away, and Peter was getting his life on track except for a few things that wouldn't let him be. That's all about to change as someone, somewhere, needs Peter, and he's going to be in for a wild ride.****

**Chapter 19: **Ripples

Peter stayed with Aunt May for a few days. Donna had taken to visiting them, as Aunt May knew Donna was the other reason she was alive that day.

"You said you had something else to tell me when you gave me the antidote. What was it?" Peter asked Donna.

She reached into her pockets and pulled out the liquids. "I found these in Dr. Connors' lab. They were hidden in a very old drawer, one that was dusty and held nothing in it, so Connors had no reason to go in there."

Something clicked in Peter's mind as he read the labels. The sore on the back of MJ's and Connors' necks. Their odd behavior. It all fit. "Why is someone trying to kill everyone who is important to me?" he asked aloud.

"Maybe they're trying to attack your heart. Like Goblin," Donna suggested.

"They would have just killed MJ, then…not make it look like she hated me, first."

"Not necessarily," Aunt May added.

Peter was thinking, his mind reeling, when he got a call on the X-Phone. "Peter Parker."

"Parker, get back here, now! Get out of that city. Take your aunt if you must, but get out as fast as possible." It was Dr. McCoy.

"Why?" Peter asked.

"The Sentinels were reset. They'll pick you up quicker than a dog on a coon's scent," he explained.

"Right. We'll leave as soon as possible. Thanks for the warning," Peter said. He hung up. "Donna, do you have a car?" he asked her.

"Of course. But why can't we take your transportation?"

"It's a motorcycle. That won't work as I've got more than one passenger."

"Right. Come on," Donna led. The three quickly got into her car, and Donna took off, driving faster than she ever had in her life. Just their luck that they caught tons of traffic.

Jackie, swallowing her want to scream in fear, followed Candace to a cemetery near the second Cerebro at around seven o'clock that night. She had explained everything that was going to happen. The process needed six people, not seven, so Jackie was to stand to the side, and wait for initiation after the 'Phoenix' had risen.

"We know your secret," an elderly, female voice started. Candace informed her beforehand that this woman was called Hallie.

"Your body does not reside here." Next was a man, a bit younger, but not that young. Candace had said this man's name was Arch Angel.

"We are here to bring you back." This was Candace's line.

"And to do our bidding," Hallie added determinedly.

A blinding flash of light, and Jackie was knocked off her feet. She got up, and saw a woman who was brilliantly shining. She had long, dark red hair and fire in her eyes. Jackie was struck by her fierce beauty. The woman opened her mouth and let out a passionate trill that was eerily birdlike.

Jackie found herself rooted to the spot as the blaze-colored eyes locked with dark brown. With a sharp intake of breath, Jackie understood a challenge when she saw one. She stuck her chin to the air as she began to levitate to the woman's altitude.

"You want to fight me, since I won't join you?" Jackie asked.

Her only answer was a turbulent glare from the bird-woman.

Candace, who realized her folly too late, called, "Let ye be warned!"

_That is such a _fake_ old English accent,_ Jackie mused sardonically. _Time to show these lunatics that you just _can't_ mess with other mutants and not expect repercussions_.

"The Phoenix is risen, and none will stand in her way!" Candace finished.

"Whatever," Jackie smirked. She knew a thing or two about mythology, like how phoenixes were _fire_ birds. Arms shooting into the sky, Jackie collected the element water from everywhere it could be found. While she was building up, Phoenix shot a flame blast to Jackie's stomach. With an 'Oof!' Jackie let some of the water go, but she directed it to drown Phoenix. Pushing all her power to the hydrogen oxide attack, she even drew water from her own body. She took a deep breath as she saw a heap of ashes on the ground. "What a pathetic zombie," Jackie commented.

Now it was Candace's turn to smirk. "You ain't seen nothin' yet," she sneered with a dramatic 'street' accent.

Jackie snorted, but stopped when the ashes started to move. Another flash of light, and Phoenix was before her again, in all her fiery glory.

Cursing, Jackie tried to call for another water attack, but found herself getting dehydrated. She held her head up high, and tried to use every attack under the sun she could think of.

First the saying 'fight fire with fire' came unbidden to her mind, so she tried that. The only thing she accomplished was getting badly burned, and making Phoenix more powerful. Then she attempted to do something with ice, but without water, no ice, and Jackie was sunk. She put everything she had into her attacks and counterattacks, but Phoenix could just be reborn after every one, and then hit Jackie harder than she'd ever known. "Enough," she muttered. Calling up her reserved reserves, which she was getting low on, she commanded minerals and chemicals to create an unbreakable shell encompassing the Phoenix. As she continued to trudge on with it, she felt the last trickling of power leaving her. Exhaustion would soon set it, and Jackie knew she'd sleep for a week if she even _thought_ of stopping. Thinking of Peter and daring not to close her eyes, she finished the shell with one last primal howl. That was the last thing she knew as she collapsed to the ground.

Peter, Aunt May, and Donna got to the school the next morning. After a discussion and agreement to keep Aunt May at the school, Wolverine pulled Peter aside and told him what happened last night with Phoenix.

"Can I go see Jackie?" Peter asked slowly.

"Now why would I tell you that she was here if I wouldn't let you see her?" Wolverine responded gruffly.

"Right." Wolverine led Peter to the infirmary and to Jackie's bed.

All this time. He'd been separated from her all this time. Now that he looked on her exhausted face, her tired body, he couldn't bring himself to say the things he'd realized in the time they'd been apart. MJ had died. That killed him, but seeing Jackie alive brought him back to life. Thinking about everything they had been through, everything they were going to go through, (as Phoenix's shell _couldn't_ last forever) Peter couldn't think of anyone else's side he'd want to be at more than Jackie's.

A sleepy smile crossed Jackie's face when her eyes opened. "Pete," she mumbled groggily. "So long…"

"I know," he whispered. "It felt like an eternity." He sat down beside her and brought his head level with hers.

Jackie turned towards him. "I never thought that I'd be a part of something so awesome," she commented, her smile growing to a grin.

"You should have expected it. You _are_ part of the X-Men."

"I was talking about what I feel when I'm around you," she rephrased.

"Oh." Peter laughed softly as he took her hand. "Me neither, then." Even then, with Jackie half-awake, the both of them felt the sparks.

The two fell asleep a short minute later. That was how the other X-Men found them. They were planning on breaking out in applause, but figured Jackie and Peter needed rest, so they left them alone.

When they awoke, it was raining outside. Jackie sat up and looked out the window to the pond. The drops were making ripples in the small body of water.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Peter remarked, "How one drop of water can make ripples that reach all the way to the edge?"

"What will be the edge for my drop, I wonder?" Jackie mused.

"We may never find it, and it may keep expanding. What else will happen because of your small drop?"

"No idea." Being philosophical wasn't Jackie's norm. She gazed into Peter's eyes with a small smile on her face. "But as long as you're with me, I think I'll be able to face it all."

"Same here."

"Did you hear about MJ?" Jackie asked gently.

Peter only nodded.

"I'm so sorry," she murmured. "I…I know who did it."

A look of shock crossed Peter's face. He could form only one word. "Who?"

"The group that raised Phoenix. They are a group of six. If the other five are all like the one I talked to, they're very dangerous," she explained. "I have one's whole name, plus mutant name. It's Candace Johnson, A.K.A. Triotrite. She lives in Iceberg. At least, I think she does."

"So you talked to her?" he inquired.

"Yeah. She's a real nutcase, Pete, I'm tellin' ya. Her family and she wants to let Phoenix destroy the state of New York, and then, when everybody knows that Phoenix is a mutant, Triotrite's family will take this serum she developed, and they won't be mutants, any more." She proceeded to tell him everything.

Peter just swallowed. "I can't believe it. MJ died because of me. Because I was going to marry her. I _knew_ this would happen!" he yelled.

"Hey, hey, hey," Jackie tried to calm him down. "Relax. You can't blame yourself for what a bunch of wackos did. They are mental. Insane. They don't care who they hurt, as long as they've gotten their personal vendetta against mutants taken care of."

Her voice managed to soothe him a little. He took deep, long breaths. He still blamed himself. _If only I'd been more adamant in my decision to stay out of her life_¸ he mused. A lot of his thoughts contained 'if only.' It was then he noticed Jackie staring at him.

The two looked at each other for a few tense seconds. Before they realized what was happening, they moved towards each other for a kiss. As they're lips locked, something similar to fireworks was set off in Jackie's nerves. Desperation and longing flooded the both of them, neither restricting the flow of feelings. Finally, they broke apart, and took a deep breath.

"Oh boy," breathed Peter. _This is not right, and you know it! _a loud voice in Peter's head cried. _I love MJ._ Guilt sunk in. MJ hadn't even been dead a week. He felt so low. He stood up, and walked quickly out of the infirmary.

"Oh boy," Jackie repeated.

THE END

(A/N: Was that a cliffhanger? I don't think so, but whatever. I hope you liked this story. It is very very very cool! I have an idea for the sequel, but that's only if yous guys _want_ a sequel. I know that if I was just taking through this wild ride, I'd want to breathe for awhile, first! :-p Lol!! ;-) You've all been very awesome! Hope to see you around fan fiction . net.

I'll respond to the three reviews, and then I'll list all those who have _ever_ reviewed this story, once, or many times.

**DiabloDude1: **You can email me that review any time you want because I like to read a lot…;-) Hope you had fun at the fair. Thank you very much for sticking with this story throughout all of this.

**Oddball91:** I told you that I didn't just randomly kill her! But no, none of yous believe me…hmph! Candace scares me, too. She was in that horrible nightmare. Now that I think about it, I think she was one of the instigators…-shudders- Thanks bunches for staying with this story. You're one of my bestestestestest friends in the whole world!

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker**: I'm glad you liked this chapter. I just noticed how incriminating I made the X-men out to be without meaning to. No, no, no, Fisk's invention of the sentinels has something to do with it ;-) X-men didn't know what was going on, so they thought they were trying to help. I'm sorry I confused you! The sequel will explain more of that, but that's a different plot that's just starting in this story.

Now for the BIG BIG BIG THANK YOU to all who EVER reviewed:

**DiabloDude1, Oddball91, Mary-Jane Watson-Parker, FieryKitsune, sma, spideycat, Darth Zelda, Laurajslr, Michael Ross, Taco eating Person, Quiet Escapist, misty, Zimbing, Anonymous, MM, freakonature, **and **Charms41**! ALL YOU GUYS ROCK!!! HOPE YOU COME BACK AND READ THE SEQUEL WHEN IT GETS POSTED!!!!)


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